CArmelo Anthony, of the Los Angeles Lakers, confronted a couple of fans on the Philadelphia 76ers court this Thursday, who were finally expelled from the stadium for their behavior, and after the meeting he assured that they had made comments with racist connotations.
“It is what it is. They said some things that were unacceptable,” Anthony said at the news conference.
“I’m fine with fans harassing you, provoking you, cheering on your team… But when certain lines are crossed, as a man, that’s what you’re going to see,” he explained.
The incident happened with 7:01 left in the fourth quarter when, with the game interrupted, Anthony asked two spectators who were just behind the table where the commentators who broadcast the game sit.
“They have been harassing him for four possessions in a row,” Ian Eagle, a commentator for the TNT network that broadcast the match in the United States, explained live.
“Melo started to look in that direction. The conversation has continued and now Melo has had enough and has walked towards them,” he added.
Television footage showed two spectators being surrounded by Sixers stadium security and eventually being ejected from the facility.
Chris Haynes, a journalist for Yahoo Sports, shared his explanation of what had happened on Twitter, citing league sources.
“The Sixers fan who got kicked out for making fun of Carmelo Anthony was calling him ‘boy’ and yelling ‘go to the corner boy’ and ‘keep throwing boy,'” he said.
Although “boy” in English is “boy” or “child” and in a normal context does not have an offensive meaning, in the United States it has racist connotations when used by a white person (such as one of the expelled fans) to refer to a male. black (such as Anthony), especially if the first is placed in a superior plane or as a supervisor of the second.
This meaning of “boy” is linked to the days of slavery and also to the racist Jim Crow laws that institutionalized racial segregation in the US after abolition.
In this sense, the US Supreme Court recognized in 2006 that the term “boy” can have racist connotations depending on the context and reproached an appeals court for not having contemplated that offensive meaning in a case on racial discrimination.
Carmelo Anthony confirmed after the meeting that he had been called “boy,” reported journalist Dan Woike of the Los Angeles Times.
Lakers coach Frank Vogel came to Anthony’s defense and charged those onlookers.
“Unacceptable language and behavior by those fans. That’s the simplest way to explain it,” he said.
Without LeBron James due to some slight discomfort in his knee, the Lakers fell during their visit to Philadelphia against the Sixers (105-87) in a game in which the duel of pvots between Anthony Davis stood out (31 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks ) and Joel Embiid (26 points, 9 rebounds and 7 assists).