The Utah Jazz fan who is at the center of a highly-publicized incident with Russell Westbrook has a history of nasty tweets sent about the Oklahoma City Thunder star.
The Jazz announced Tuesday that they have banned fan Shane Keisel permanently from all arena events for his inappropriate and disrespectful behavior towards Westbrook during Monday’s game between the Jazz and Oklahoma City Thunder. Westbrook was fined $25,000 for directing profanity and a threat at Keisel.
Immediately after video of Westbrook’s threat to the fan was released, people wondered what was said to spark that response. Westbrook said after the game that the fan told him to get on his knees like he’s used to, a remark he found to be inappropriate and tinged with racism. He says the fan’s wife repeated the line. Keisel says they were engaged in playful banner before it took a negative turn. He said he told Westbrook he needed to ice up and some other “not safe for work stuff.”
The difference in what each side says happened has led to discord.
After his publicized incident on Monday night, Keisel deleted his Twitter account. However, people on the internet captured some old, racist tweets from Keisel. In one tweet, Keisel called someone the n-word. Two tweets he sent in 2018 were aimed at Westbrook. One said “Russell Westbrook needs to go back where he came from!” Another called Westbrook a “piece of classless s—” and said “somebody needs to kick his a–.”
The unedited versions of those tweets are below.
It’s unclear if Keisel’s history of attacks against Westbrook played a role in the Jazz’s decision to issue the permanent ban.
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