Rapper E-40 removed from Kings-Warriors game, cites ‘racial bias’
Bay Area rapper and longtime Warriors fan E-40 released a statement this weekend denouncing “racial bias” after security removed him from an NBA playoff game Saturday night between the Sacramento Kings and the Golden State Warriors.
Video footage from the event shows E-40 interacting courtside with security guards who proceed to escort him out of Sacramento’s Golden 1 Center. After the rapper spoke out, the Kings told The Times the team takes “these claims seriously” and is “investigating the facts and circumstances regarding the situation, as we do anytime an accusation like this is made.”
In a statement obtained Sunday by the Associated Press, E-40 said that other attendees heckled him throughout the game. The “Choices” artist, whose real name is Earl Stevens, added that he engaged with one heckler “in an assertive but polite manner” before security kicked him out of the arena.
California rap veterans E-40 and Too Short will square off today in the last Verzuz battle of 2020, capping a wild year for the online music series.
In a clip shared on Twitter, multiple crowd members can be seen waving and shouting at E-40 as security guards force him to leave his courtside seats.
“Unfortunately, it was yet another reminder that — despite my success and accolades as a musician and entrepreneur — racial bias remains prevalent,” E-40 said in a statement.
“Security saw a disagreement between a Black man and a white woman and immediately assumed that I was at fault.”
Cali rap OGs Ice Cube, Snoop Dogg, Too Short and E-40 on middle age, the best advice they ever received and the pleasures of staying off the 405.
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