Report: Judge dismisses fans' suit against Westbrook, Jazz originally appeared on NBC Sports Washington
One day after a fan dumped popcorn on Russell Westbrook as he exited the Wizards’ first-round playoff game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Wednesday, it's being reported that a Utah judge dismissed a lawsuit involving another pair of fans that were banned from attending Jazz games for taunting Westbrook in 2019.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported Thursday that the $100 million case for plaintiffs Shane Keisel and Jennifer Huff has been thrown out. Keisel and Huff claimed defamation and infliction of emotional stress after Westbrook accused them off using racist taunts while he was playing against the Jazz for the Oklahoma City Thunder.
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Westbrook was also fined for his role in the incident. The point guard was caught on camera telling the fans, “I’ll f--- you up.” Per ESPN, Westbrook categorized his comment as an “emotional reaction” after one of the fans told him to “get on your knees like you're used to.” He was fined $25,000 by the NBA for “directing profanity and threatening language to a fan.”
The case’s dismissal comes just as Westbrook was the target of another fan, this time in Philadelphia. Westbrook exited Wednesday’s Game 2 loss with an ankle injury in the fourth quarter. As he was walking off the court, a fan threw popcorn at him and multiple security guards had to hold Westbrook back from climbing into the seats.
“To be completely honest, man, this s--- is getting out of hand, especially for me,” Westbrook told reporters after the game. “The amount of disrespect, the amount of fans just doing whatever the f--- they want to do, it’s [wrong]. Any other setting, I’m all for the fans enjoying the game and having fun. It’s part of sports, I get it. But there are certain things that cross the line.
“Any other setting, I know for a fact they wouldn’t come up, a guy wouldn’t come up on the street and pour popcorn on my head because they know what would happen. A guy wouldn’t come up to me talking about my family and my kids on the street because the response would be different.”
The fan was banned from attending 76ers games moving forward.
