Rapper E-40 was caught on video being kicked out of Saturday night’s Sacramento Kings vs. Golden State Warriors game, in what he claims was a case of “racial bias,” where the San Francisco-area rapper scuffled with security as fans booed and waved him goodbye.
The 55-year-old rapper, who is a Warriors fan and a courtside season-ticket holder for many years, said he was “absolutely humiliated” by the “jarring” spectacle, and demanded the franchise open an investigation into the incident.
Reports suggest that E-40, whose real name is Earl Tywone Stevens Sr., was “standing excessively” at his courtside seats and was allegedly blocking the view for other fans, even after allegedly receiving a warning from stadium security.
Stevens claimed in a statement he released to NBA sportswriter Shams Charania on Sunday that he was “subjected to disrespectful heckling” from fans in the stands behind him throughout the game, until he “finally” turned around and addressed the heckler during the fourth quarter “in an assertive but polite manner”:
The rapper, who is black, then revealed that the heckler was a woman, and white. Kings security approached Stevens during his exchange with the woman, at which point the rapper and security officers exchanged heated words and there was some hand flapping from the rapper, who later asserted, “Security saw a disagreement between a Black man and a white woman and immediately assumed that I was at fault.”
Stevens called the experience a reminder that “despite my success … racial bias remains prevalent.”
Senior NBA writer for ESPN Marc J. Spears reported Sunday:
Golden 1 Center security believed E-40 stood excessively thus blocking the view of fans behind him, refused to comply after a warning was given after many complaints and there was an effort by Kings & Warriors security to escort him out without further distraction, — NBA sources.
Spears also noted in a separate report that “a source close to E-40 says a warning was never given by Golden 1 security for standing excessively.”
E-40, middle, watches during an NBA basketball game between the Golden State Warriors and the Portland Trail Blazers in San Francisco, Dec. 30, 2022. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
“The Sacramento Kings take these claims seriously and are investigating the facts and circumstances regarding the situation, as we do anytime an accusation like this is made,” the Kings’ organization said in a statement.
Spears went on to praise Kings’ Owner Vivek Ranadive’s history of social justice and equality heroism, noting that Ranadive has been “engaged in promoting social justice, racial equality and civic engagement as much as any NBA team. The Kings hosted their 5th Team Up for Change to inspire, unite, and activate a call for social justice and racial equality on March 7.” He concluded that “Ranadive also spoke out after the police brutality death in Sacramento of African-American Stephon Clarke in 2018 and supported the protests,” and for that reason Spears hopefully expects “Ranadive and the Kings to take E-40’s racism accusation seriously and investigate the incident fully.”
Vivek Ranadive, left, the owner of the NBA’s Sacramento Kings basketball team, flanked by Gov. Gavin Newsom, right, discusses the donation of Sleep Train Arena, the team’s former home, for use as a field hospital, after touring the facility in Sacramento, California, on Monday, April 6, 2020. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
E-40 has been a professional rapper since 1986, and has released 26 studio albums. The Bay-area rapper was most recently featured on the 2022 Black Panther: Wakanda Forever soundtrack.
In his July 21, 2020, song “Black is Beautiful,” E-40 expressed racially and politically charged lyrics that referenced ugly images of slavery and asked the question, “What Obama do for Black people?” The song featured a video that included impressions of Black Lives Matter protests, police brutality, and a devil-eyed Donald Trump:
Uh, although it’s uncertain times I still smile
Social injustice and racial profile
Forty acres and a mule
Black history should be a mandatory class in school
Strong-minded, solid like granite
We the most forgiving human beings on the planet
They the raped the men in our family in front of wives
Tried to make us look weak in front of our kids, dehumanize
And our leadership hella devil-sent
Got in the White House by trolling our only Black president
Evil, evil, evil
Brainwashed our people, say, “What Obama do for Black people?”
Me personally, I wanna fade
Fell out with so-called friends ’cause they drunk the Kool-Aid
They whipped us and hung us up on a tree
Lit us on the fire so the community could see— from verse 1 of “Black is Beautiful“
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