Jazz Ban Second Fan, This Time For An Incident From Last Year
Mar 15, 2019, 6:40 PM
SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The Utah Jazz have come down hard on another fan permanently banning him from Vivint Arena for racial remarks against Oklahoma City Thunder star Russell Westbrook.
This is the second band this week. The first one happening on Tuesday.
That fan was accused of making racial remarks against Westbrook at a game on Monday night.
The other incident actually happened last year during the playoff games, but a video of the encounter came forward on Friday.
It shows Westbrook hamming it up for fans and one them can be heard saying, “You go boy.” The fan said it twice.
On Thursday night, in an unprecedented move, Utah Jazz owner Gail Miller made a statement before the game addressing the incident on Monday night.
Breaking: @utahjazz spokesperson confirms a second fan has been banned from the arena. @KSL5TV
— Dan Rascon (@TVDanRascon) March 15, 2019
“This should never happen. We are not a racist community,” said Miller to cheering fans. “We have a code of conduct in this arena, it will be strictly enforced.”
“I really appreciate what Gail said,” said Bryce Blanchard, the former president of the Utah Jazz 100 club and current advisory board member with the organization. “We have to stop that kind of behavior and perception.”
Blanchard is an 11 year season ticket holder who has front-row seats next to the opponents bench. He admits he can be a heckler at times, but says there is a line no fan should ever cross.
“Nobody should ever be personal, nobody should be profane, nobody should ever be racist,” said Blanchard. “We have to act differently. We have to take ownership of what happened. We have to chose to raise our game as a fan base.”
