One of the fans that nearly got tossed from a Mavericks-Suns game for calling Suns’ star Kevin Durant a “bitch” in Dallas last week tried to explain his behavior, saying he and the female friend he was with were trying to honor a late friend.
Luke Brawner, the man who was caught on video shouting the word at Durant from their seats near courtside as he ran onto the court, didn’t deny his actions and instead provided some odd background to the incident.
In an interview with Texas-based radio station KEGL, Brawner said he and the woman he was with were at the game in honor of his best friend and her brother, Nathan, who died several years ago.
Brawner went on to say that Nathan, upset that Durant left the Golden State Warriors, had jokingly referred to Durant as a “little bitch.”
He even did so on Brawner’s podcast, uttering the phrase every time Durant’s name was mentioned.
Brawner added he and Nathan’s sister shouted out as a tribute to Nathan without realizing the consequences of their actions.
In the video, as Durant jogs onto the court with his teammates he turns to confront the two fans, both wearing Mavericks jerseys.
With security present, the woman tries to shake Durant’s hand, but he refuses.
Later, Durant came to the fans’ rescue, as he stopped security from ejecting them from the game.
“I don’t want to justify anything that was said,’’ Brawner told the radio station. “But I do want to provide some context… It was just a joke to us, but we forget the humanity of the person on the other end of that joke.”
Brawner said he and Nathan’s sister didn’t think about the fact that Durant would hear them shouting.
“I’m used to seeing this person on highlight reels,’’ Brawner said. “I’m used to seeing this person’s face, and I can yell at the TV all day long, but you sort of forget when you remove the humanity from that person, that your words still really matter.”
Brawner also said he’d reached out to Durant’s publicist in an attempt to let him know there was “no ill-intent.”
But Brawner didn’t totally regret his actions.
“Ironically, I do think that the moment did honor my friend,” Brawner said. “Wherever people go after you die, wherever he is out in the ether, he was laughing — hard– and loving it… We had an amazing night. It didn’t ruin our night in any way. But it was wild. I did not imagine so many folks would hear about it.”