Celtics issue statement regarding DeMarcus Cousins incident
The Boston Celtics have released a statement addressing a recent Yahoo! Sports report claiming a fan was ejected for muttering a racial slur at Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins during a Warriors-Celtics tilt at TD Garden earlier this season.
“On January 26, we were alerted by DeMarcus Cousins that a fan had used racially offensive language towards him. Immediately upon receiving the complaint, the fan, who was a minor, was ejected,” the statement read in part. “The following day, per our policy regarding any reported fan behavior complaint, the team initiated an exhaustive investigation of the incident that included reviewing video from multiple angles and identifying and interviewing numerous fans, security personnel, and police in the immediate vicinity.”
While the Celtics did eject the fan as mentioned, they did make it a point to note that they were unable to conclude that the ejected fan used any racially offensive language in his verbal attack on Cousins.
“In the course of this investigation, we were able to conclude that the fan had been verbally abusive toward the Golden State bench, but none of the interviewed parties were able to verify the use of racially offensive language, and video evidence proved inconclusive,” the statement read. “Based on our investigation, the fan was issued a two-year ban from all Celtics games, and is also subject to lifetime probation pursuant to our policy. The punishment for any corroborated discriminatory language used towards any player, employee, or fan at a Celtics home game is a lifetime ban.
We were in contact with the Golden State Warriors through this process, sharing our action plan and the final discipline. We express the deepest regrets that this incident happened to DeMarcus, as such behavior violates everything the Boston Celtics have always stood for.”
