After former Boston Celtics guard Kyrie Irving stirred an especially uncomfortable pot regarding his hope he wouldn’t witness racist acts when returning to Boston for Game 3 of the Brooklyn Nets star’s series with his former club, it elicited some surprising — and to many, disappointing — responses.
Prominent members of the franchise and beloved alumni both ruffled feathers with their ignorance some suggested might be selective amnesia despite the team’s well-known, fraught racial relationship with its fanbase, continuing up to the present as attested to by Marcus Smart in The Players Tribune. Asked about the difficult topic, Smart himself confirmed he’d heard problematic things said by the fans to opposing teams, and another Celtic backed up the Flower Mound native’s recollections.
While such claims ought to be taken seriously regardless of the claimant, the nature of news media spurred on inquiries to Smart and other Celtics, the veteran guard attesting to the sort of abuse Irving had alluded to.
While it started with some unexpected comments from former Celtic Kyrie Irving, fan behavior is an issue that’s increasingly a league-wide problem. https://t.co/5IuaHEa9fq
— The Celtics Wire (@TheCelticsWire) May 28, 2021
