Metta World Peace's career was forever changed by the “Malice at the Palace.” Nearly 20 years after the infamous 2004 brawl he helped spark between members of the Indiana Pacers and fans of the Detroit Pistons, though, World Peace doesn't entirely regret his actions—even acknowledging just how much money he lost as a result of charging into the stands.
After being asked what was going through his mind after getting a beer thrown on him while avoiding pushes and shoves with Ben Wallace and the Pistons, World Peace admitted be still believes his instant fury was well placed.
“I don't even know what was going through my mind because it happened so quick. If you look at how fast I got up, that was a half a second. I was like, ‘No way nobody just hit me,'” he told Emily Austin on The Hoop Chat. “I was furious, as you can see. I was furious, not gonna lie. Should I have been that upset, when I think about it? Yeah, probably should've been upset. Would I have done that again? Probably not, but I would be the same amount of upset.”
World Peace has always taken an undue amount of flak for initiating the Malice at the Palace. The fan who threw a red cup of beer at him while World Peace—still going by Ron Artest back then—was laying on the scorer's table, trying to regain his cool after a dust-up with Wallace, is really the one who turned a routine on-court fracas into a full-fledged fight involving arena patrons.
Good on him for continuing to say as much all these years later. Even better? Massive earnings loss and cemented reputation hit be damned, World Peace ultimately forgave the event's true instigator.
“I forgave that person even though he lost me 50-to-whatever [million] in contracts and endorsements,” he said. “But you know what? I feel like humans are more important than paper.”
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