During a game vs the Jazz Russell Westbrook got into a verbally abusive conversation with a fan and his wife.
The Utah Jazz team announced on Tuesday that they will be banning the fan for “excessive and derogatory verbal abuse directed at a player”.
Westbrook spoke with interviewers and said he felt offended when the fan said “get down on my knees like I used to.”.
“For me, I’m just not going to continue to take disrespect for my family,” said Westbrook.
“And if I had to do it again, I would say the same exact thing, because I truly will stand up for myself, for my family, for my kids, for my wife, for my mom, for my dad every single time. I expect anybody else to do the same. So that’s kind of where I’m at with the whole situation. As for beating up his wife, I have never put my hand on a woman; I never will. Never been in any domestic violence before. Never have before, but once he said the comment, his wife repeated the same thing to me as well. So that’s kind of how that started.
“I know you guys only got the tail end of the video, but the start of the video is way more important and way more disrespectful than what you guys heard. There’s got to be something done. There’s got to be some consequences for those type of people that come to the game just to say and do whatever they want to say. I don’t think it’s fair to the players.”
Westbrook finished the game with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and eight assists.