Earlier on this Lakers’ road trip, a man was ejected in Cleveland when he crossed the line yelling things at LeBron James and holding up T-shirts with vulgar statements on them.
The LeBron hate carried over to Atlanta Monday where four fans got ejected from the game, two of them because they got in a verbal spat with LeBron. One also would not put on a mask, according to reports.
Atlanta. pic.twitter.com/EIdkzDoBGv
— Dave McMenamin (@mcten) February 2, 2021
The Hawks are investigating the incident.
Since high school, LeBron has been hearing hecklers and was pretty chill about it after the game when speaking to the media after the 107-99 Laker win.
“At the end of the day, I’m happy fans are back in the building. I miss that interaction. I need that interaction...” LeBron said postgame.
“There was a, you know, a back and forth between two grown men, and we said our piece. He said his piece, I said my piece. And then somebody else jumped into it and said their piece, but I didn’t think they should have been kicked out. But they might have had a couple drinks maybe. And they could have probably kept it going during the game, and the game wouldn’t have been about the game no more. So I think the referees did what they had to do.”
LeBron then had fun with the whole incident on Twitter.
Courtside Karen was MAD MAD!! 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
— LeBron James (@KingJames) February 2, 2021
Which cracked up his teammates and people around the league.
😭😭😭#courtsidekaren https://t.co/uGuaMAQ10a
— Alex Caruso (@ACFresh21) February 2, 2021
🤣🤣🤣🤣
— Ja Morant (@JaMorant) February 2, 2021
Bruh!!!!! https://t.co/HNbQ4ckgr9
— Jared Dudley (@JaredDudley619) February 2, 2021
Hahahaha https://t.co/eDLBYzCTlp
— Isaiah Thomas (@isaiahthomas) February 2, 2021
The two who had words with LeBron were identified as husband and wife Chris Carlos and Juliana Carlos. In a social media rant after being tossed from the arena, Juliana Carlos admitted her husband "...he has this issue with LeBron.” Speaking to the press, LeBron said Carlos went “out of bounds” with what he said, which prompted LeBron’s response, and then Juliana jumped in to defend her husband’s side, and that’s when things started to get out of control.
Here is how Juliana described the incident in a video posted to social media (hat tip Dave McMenamin of ESPN).
“So, I’m minding my own business, and Chris has been a Hawks fan forever. He’s been watching the games for 10 years. Whatever, he has this issue with LeBron. I don’t have an issue with LeBron. I don’t give a f*** about LeBron. Anyway, I’m minding my own business, drinking my [beverage], having fun. All of the sudden, LeBron says something to my husband, and I see this and I stand up. And I go, ‘Don’t f****** talk to my husband.’ And he looks at me and he goes, ‘Sit the f*** down, bitch.’ And I go, ‘Don’t f****** call me a bitch. You sit the f*** down. Get the f*** out of here. Don’t f****** talk to my husband like that.’”
If LeBron said that, he would have crossed a line as well.
That said, if someone near the court is going to curse at players, they have the right to come back at them and harder. Just because you have the money to pay for the seat does not give you the right to say whatever you want and be an... let’s say jerk, to keep this a family conversation. Actions and words have consequences.
We don’t know what happened for sure, but I believe we can say with some confidence that LeBron didn’t start this. LeBron has been the focal point of harassment from opposing fans for two decades now, it rolls off him (unless he wants to use it for motivation). He’s not starting it, and he’s not fazed by it.
At least now the Carlos family has a story to tell their friends.