Former NBA star J.R. Smith was one of many NBA players who peacefully protested this weekend in the name of George Floyd, but he had some explaining to do after footage surfaced of him engaging in a violent confrontation with another protester.
TMZ reports that after protesting in Los Angeles’ Fairfax district, Smith spotted a protester damaging his truck and...it didn’t particularly end well. In a clip circulating on social media, Smith delivers a series of vicious kicks and blows in retaliation.
It’s not exactly how most would expect a public figure to respond in that situation, so with tensions high, the 34-year-old took to social media to explain himself.
“One of these little motherfucking white boys didn’t know where he was going and broke my fucking window in my truck. Broke my shit,” he said. “I chased him down and whooped his ass.”
He continued, “This ain’t no hate crime. I ain’t got no problem with nobody who ain’t got no problem with me. It’s a problem with the motherfucking system. That’s it. [...] He didn’t know whose window he broke and he got his ass whooped.”
That, he did.
Ironically enough, Smith’s brand of street justice occurred on the two-year anniversary of this:
With the score tied at 107-107 in the final moments of Game 1 of the 2018 NBA Finals, Smith grabbed the rebound and, instead of securing the win with a putback, opted to retreat to the 3-point line, dribble out the clock like a dumb ass and force teammate George Hill to heave the rock at the rim with 0.5 seconds remaining.
The Cavaliers would go on to lose in overtime, Smith would infamously become a meme and that play ended up being one of the costliest mistakes in NBA Finals history.
No matter how you feel about looting and vandalism during protests, I think we can all agree that should you decide to participate, you better be prepared to face the consequences—or a roundhouse from J.R. Smith.