DeMarcus Cousins Says He's Been 'Called N------' Multiple Times by Fans
In an interview with Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, Warriors center DeMarcus Cousins discussed the type of comments fans make toward players during games and said he's been called the N-word "on a few occasions."
The two discussed the recent interaction between Thunder guard Russell Westbrook and a Utah Jazz fan who was banned from future games for the comments he directed at Westbrook.
"Oh, I’ve been called n-----," he told Haynes. "And it’s crazy because this has happened to me on a few occasions. I reported it to the league, and, you know, I may have said whatever I said back and I was still punished for it. But obviously it became a bigger issue when it was Russ, and he was still fined for it. I don’t really understand it. We’re the product. We push this league, so I don’t understand. When does our safety, when does it become important?"
Cousins added that he did not want to mention what cities he has been called the racial slur and told Haynes, "I’m not really trying to put a label on an entire fan base. There are ignorant individuals in every city. I’ll just put it like that."
Haynes later reported that the incident occurred on Jan. 26 in Boston. The Celtics fan who yelled the slur at Cousins was ultimately banned two seasons.
The interview was part of a larger conversation on the Posted Up video podcast that will be released later in the week.
Cousins is in his ninth NBA season and first with the Warriors. In 23 games since returning from an Achilles injury, he's averaged 15.9 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.6 assists while shooting 48.5% from the field.
