Howard Stern says Black NBA players are racist because they won’t speak to him when he’s courtside at Madison Square Garden in NYC.
Stern, 69, says he’s too often ignored by Black NBA players who come over and embrace Black stars seated right next to him.
“The Black players won’t come over and say hello to me,” Stern complained during Monday’s broadcast of his popular radio show on SiriusXM.
“The Knicks have been very kind to me,” Stern told Mediaite. “They put me right in the front row. That’s when I knew I was famous. When I, you know, I have courtside [seats], they put me courtside, and the Black players won’t come over and say hello to me, but they go over to Spike Lee.”
Stern’s co-host, Robin Quivers, 70, asked if the players acknowledge him at all.
“No. I’ll be sitting next to Tracy Morgan or Chris Rock,” Stern replied. “And a lot of times when I’m there, I’m next to Tracy Morgan, who is so funny. And he’s sitting there and like, couple of the players will come over. They, like, give him that bro shake and stuff,” Stern continued. “And I’m like — these guys should hug me too.”
Stern added: “I mean, what am I? I grew up in a black neighborhood, you know what I mean? I mean they should know that. But I get ignored.”
Quivers then asked Stern if he believed it was “a racial thing” because he is white.
“I’m sure they talk to some white people,” Quivers said.
“No, not that I saw,” Stern answered. “I want them to talk to me. I want them to come up and go, ‘Hey Howard, fan of the show’ or something. I don’t get that. And, you know who comes up to me sometimes — the referees. They’ll come up to me – white referees and Black. Like, ‘Hey, Howard, hey.’ But yeah, a lot of the white referees. So I’m like, ‘Oh, is everything racial now? Can I get a shout-out from some of the players?'”
“Maybe they don’t like me,” he added. “I don’t know. I’d like to think it’s a white thing, not my personality. I hope it’s racial. That’s all.”
