An altercation in the stands at Saturday night’s Western Conference playoff game in Sacramento resulted in Bay Area hip-hop legend E-40 being ejected from the arena, an incident he says was a result of “racial bias.”
Video shows E-40, whose real name is Earl Stevens, talking to security officials before leaving his courtside seat at Golden 1 Center in the fourth quarter of the series opener between the Sacramento Kings and Golden State Warriors.
In a statement issued Sunday, the rapper says he was “subjected to disrespectful heckling” throughout the game. When he finally turned around to address the comments, he says Kings security officials “approached me, assumed I instigated the encounter and proceeded to kick me out of the arena.”
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E-40 is an avid Warriors fan who has courtside seats beside the Warriors bench at Golden State’s Chase Center. But he was in enemy territory in Saturday night’s game in Sacramento, which the Warriors lost 126-123.
He called the experience “humiliating” and requested the Kings conduct an investigation of the incident.
“Unfortunately, it was yet another reminder that — despite my success and accolades as a musician and entrepreneur — racial bias remains prevalent,” he said. “Security saw a disagreement between a Black man and a white woman and immediately assumed that I was at fault.”
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Rapper E-40 kicked out of NBA playoff game, claims ‘racial bias’