Wizards guard Russell Westbrook was rightfully furious after a fan threw popcorn on him as he left Wizards-76ers Game 2 on Monday with an ankle injury. In the moment, he was rightly angry about the incident. That continued after the game.
As noted by The Athletic’s Fred Katz, Westbrook said “I wouldn’t come up to me on the street and throw popcorn on my head, because you know what happens…In these arenas, you gotta start protecting the players. We’ll see what the NBA does.” He added that “sh*t is out of hand” in regards to fan interactions with players.
Westbrook says, “This shit is out of hand." https://t.co/5SaL0aExJ2
— Fred Katz (@FredKatz) May 27, 2021
You can see his full comments here.
Russell Westbrook speaks on the Sixers fan who threw popcorn on him pic.twitter.com/z1sPNswLTS
— 2Cool2Blog (@2Cool2Blog) May 27, 2021
When Wizards coach Scott Brooks was asked about the popcorn incident, he said he didn’t know about it, but that if it happened, the person responsible should be banned. In a statement attributed to Valerie Camillo, president of business operations for Wells Fargo Center, the action was called “classless” and confirmed that the fan had been ejected from the game.
Statement from the President of Business Ops of the Wells Fargo Center on the Westbrook/fan popcorn incident: “This was classless, unacceptable behavior, and we’re not going to tolerate it…” https://t.co/xfyJBr9qR1 pic.twitter.com/2z296ay3HT
— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) May 27, 2021
Westbrook got support from his fellow players on Twitter as well, most notably LeBron James.
By the way WE AS THE PLAYERS wanna see who threw that popcorn on Russ while he was leaving the game tonight with a injury!! There’s cameras all over arenas so there’s no excuse! Cause if the 👟 was on the other 🦶🏾.🎥 #ProtectOurPlayers
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 27, 2021
Westbrook is right here. It’s a step way too far for fans to be throwing food or anything else at players — especially when said player is leaving the game due to an injury. Westbrook also has a history with fans taking things a step too far, most notably in Utah when a fan used racist language towards Westbrook and also four years ago when a fan flipped him double birds and was ejected. It’s pretty easy to understand why Westbrook would be at his wits end with fans at games coming at him beyond the normal boos and jeers.
