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LeBron James found himself in an argument with a few courtside fans on Monday night during the Los Angeles Lakers 107-99 victory against the Atlanta Hawks, which has resulted in quite the fallout on social media.
The fans, later identified as Juliana and Chris Carlos, were ejected and James got “Courtside Karen” trending on Twitter with a postgame tweet.
It’s unknown what sparked the war of words, but The Athletic broke down the audio from multiple clips of the incident and caught that James called Carlos an “Ol’ steroid a–” before he was tossed from the arena.
The encounter extended far after the spat between Chris Carlos and James, with Juliana Carlos taking to Instagram to call out the defending NBA Finals MVP.
“So, I’m minding my own business, and Chris has been a Hawks fan forever. He’s been watching the games for 10 years. Whatever, he has this issue with LeBron. I don’t have an issue with LeBron. I don’t give a f— about LeBron,” she says in the video. “Anyway, I’m minding my own business, drinking my [beverage], having fun. All of the sudden, LeBron says something to my husband, and I see this and I stand up. And I go, ‘Don’t f—ing talk to my husband.’ And he looks at me and he goes, ‘Sit the f— down, b—-.’ And I go, ‘Don’t f—ing call me a b—-. You sit the f— down. Get the f— out of here. Don’t f—ing talk to my husband like that.'”
James took the high-road in his postgame press conference but did note that maybe the two had a little too much to drink, leading to the confrontation.
“They might have had a couple drinks, maybe,” he said. “And they could have probably kept it going during the game, and the game wouldn’t have been about the game no more, so I think the referees did what they had to do.”
No Ban Coming for Fans Involved in Incident
There were some obvious health concerns when it comes to a fan interacting with a player during the COVID-19 era, especially considering Juliana Carlos removed her mask while barking at James.
“It certainly exposed something with regard to having fans in the pandemic,” Lakers coach Frank Vogel told reporters. “You obviously can’t have fans taking their masks down and shouting at our players with the virus out there during these times.”
However, after the Hawks conducted an investigation it was announced that no ban coming for the four people who were ejected, per ESPN.
Juliana Carlos Apologizes for Behavior on Instagram
Shortly after the decision was announced, Juliana Carlos issued an apology on Instagram.
“About last night,” Carlos wrote. “To say things escalated quickly at yesterday’s game is an understatement, and I want to apologize for losing my cool and removing my mask in the heat of the moment. My husband is a huge sports fan and we’re passionate people, and let’s be real: sports wouldn’t be sports without a little trash-talking. What should have been a quick back-and-forth between two adults got out of hand and my natural instinct to stand up for the man I love kicked in. Did I get defensive when that happened? Yes. Did I use offensive language when I could have taken the higher road? Yes. And for these things, I take full responsibility.”
Is this the last we’ve heard of Courtside Karen? Probably. However, she did get around tens of thousands of new followers on social media after the blowup.
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