SALT LAKE CITY — Whether the Utah Jazz actually do have the most racist fans in the NBA, as some players past and present have suggested, would be hard to quantify. But here’s a number that’s crystal clear: There’s one fewer fan today.
A day after an ugly incident involving Oklahoma City star Russell Westbrook, 45-year-old Shane Keisel is permanently banned from Vivint Arena events. The team said the decision was based on eyewitness accounts and video.
Westbrook’s profane response to what were deemed racist taunts during Monday’s Jazz-Thunder game drew heat of its own. Westbrook was fined $25,000 by the NBA for engaging and threatening fans.
Although the playoffs haven’t started, the drama has. Never mind the Jazz have lost three of the last four games. They would need a total collapse to miss the cut.
If the Jazz are looking for a silver lining, it’s that the ban could stop any such distraction happening in the postseason. Crowd behavior has been an ongoing playoff subject.
There is always considerable debate as to what happens when a player raises concerns. The first news on Monday was video from near the Oklahoma City bench, showing Westbrook calling threats toward Keisel and his wife. Westbrook said the back-and-forth had become racial and personal, so he responded appropriately.
Keisel told KSL-TV he was lightly taunting Westbrook. Turns out Westbrook didn’t take it that way.
Wonderful. Racism, vulgarity, threats of violence against women …
All the wrong reasons to attend a game.
While stories vary according to the party, Westbrook’s account was backed by statements from Donovan Mitchell and Thabo Sefolosha, both of whom condemned Keisel’s behavior, as did the team’s investigation. Mitchell’s statement called Salt Lake “a community I love” and added the incident “is not indicative of our fanbase.” Sefolosha said on Instagram, “I love our fans but there are limits that can not be crossed!”
The Jazz organization agrees.
While Monday’s incident may have been isolated, when the competition ramps up, so does the controversy. Remember the year Golden State’s Stephen Jackson said Jazz fans had mocked him with racial slurs during the playoffs? Some of his teammates backed him up, but no one on the Jazz reported hearing anything.
This time there was no ambiguity.
Last year, after OKC was eliminated from the playoffs, Westbrook said Utah fans say “a lot of disrespectful, vulgar things” about players and their families. Westbrook responded in kind on Monday.
After the game, former Golden State forward Matt Barnes tweeted, “I said it b4, @utahjazz have the most racist fans in the @NBA.”
Overnight, images of possible old tweets circulated under an account name of Shane Keisel, with the handle @skeisel3911. One said, “Russell Westbrook needs to go back where he came from #MAGA.”
Tuesday morning, an account appearing to be Keisel’s contained tweets saying “I did nothing” and “Don’t @ me I was innocent. Russ took it too far.”
He deleted his account shortly thereafter.
Accusations against the Jazz crowd have popped up occasionally over the years, but they’ve increased in visibility. It’s likely that in 18,000-seat arenas across the league that someone, sometime, says unacceptable things. But this incident particularly hurts the Jazz, who have struggled to attract top free agent talent. Mitchell said it hurt him personally.
It didn’t help anyone, anywhere.
The Jazz already had a stern policy in place regarding fan behavior. It says security can “remove any guest whose conduct is deemed inappropriate, unruly or detrimental to the enjoyment of guests around him/her. If you observe any guest behaving in such a manner, please contact the nearest Guest Services or Event Security team member.”
The team said on Tuesday it “will not tolerate fans who act inappropriately.”
How many objectionable occurrences are there in a season?
If there’s one like Monday’s, that’s too many.
The only good thing is that the Jazz quickly addressed the incident. Maybe now they won’t have to deal with it when the playoffs arrive.