Utah Jazz guard Dante Exum has decided to give his take on a recent controversy surrounding fellow Australian Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Earlier this month, Simmons, along with two friends were asked to show their IDs before entering the Crown Casino in Melbourne. The Sixers star then explained that he and his friends felt singled out during the incident, especially since another member of their group – which is white – was immediately allowed to enter. Simmons added that as an advocate of equality, he felt that he had to say something to raise awareness.
However, Exum believes that Simmons and the media might have allowed the incident to be overblown, per news.com.au's Paul Johnson.
“I followed it [Simmons incident] a bit. I think when you are put in those situations sometimes you just want to have fun and you kind of take things on both sides out of proportion — so I think that’s what we saw — and Ben kind of maybe overreacted and they (media) overreacted a little bit.”
The management of the casino has already clarified the issue, saying that they were simply following their policy. In an official statement (via ESPN), they noted that the “internal security policy requires our security officers to check identification of those persons they believe to be under the age of 25, this is an enhanced safeguard to ensure that no one under the age of 18 is permitted entry to the casino floor as required by law.”
The Casino officials said that Simmons and his friends were then allowed to enter the establishment after they were identified to be of legal age.
Simmons has yet to respond to this statement by Exum.
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