There was some drama on Thursday night at the Wells Fargo Center when the Philadelphia 76ers hosted the Los Angeles Lakers. Two Sixers fans were ejected after getting into it with Lakers veteran Carmelo Anthony, and it was later revealed that the racially derogatory term “boy” was used to describe Melo.
Friday morning, one of the fans involved, Sixers season ticket holder Mike Murphy, called into the Angelo Cataldi and the Morning Team show on 94 WIP and tried to defend himself.
Via Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer:
“He comes down the court,” Murphy said of Anthony. “We’re blowing out in the game. I say to him, ‘You’re a little boy. Let him shoot. Let him shoot.’ He looked at me. He smiles. I think he goes down to the other end of the court. He comes back down … and I say ‘Let him shoot. He’s a little boy.’ And he lost his cool out of nowhere.”
The Sixers fan claimed there was no racist intent, but then he also offered up this weirdness:
But Murphy told WIP his words were “good talk,” not racial. He said his job sitting that close to court is getting in players’ head. Murphy believes he accomplished that and Anthony ran with it.
“I don’t how the Sixers cannot let me be a fan for saying little boy, because he is a little boy,” Murphy said. “I respect Carmelo.”
Of course he was going to deny that the statements were racially derogatory, but given the history of the word, it's no surprise Melo was upset. Anthony called the comments “unacceptable,” and he's right. There's a place for heckling, but using “boy” like this just shouldn't be done. And then for Murphy to follow up and say that Melo “is a little boy” is just bizarre.
It's unclear if the Sixers will levy any punishment against Murphy for his actions.
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