Shane Keisel has been identified as the Utah Jazz fan that was recorded getting into an altercation with Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook.
Update (4:45 p.m. EST): The Utah Jazz released an official statement on Twitter confirming that Shane Keisel has been banned from Utah Jazz games for life.
The Jazz said that the reason for the ban is Keisel’s actions qualified as “excessive and derogatory verbal abuse.”
https://twitter.com/utahjazz/status/1105570407598321664
Original article:
The tense exchange between Westbrook and Keisel, which happened during the second quarter of Monday night’s Jazz vs Thunder game in Utah, was recorded on video and quickly went viral after being posted on social media.
In the video, Westbrook can be heard telling a nearby security guard “I’m going to tell you one thing, I’ll f*** him up if he says that s*** again. I promise you.”
“I promise you. You think I’m playing. I swear to God, I swear to God, I’ll f— you up. You and your wife, I’ll f— you up,” Westbrook says.
https://twitter.com/E_Woodyard/status/1105297381384368128
In a postgame interview, Westbrook claimed that Kessell said “get down on your knees like you’re used to”, a comment that Westbrook considered to be “inappropriate” and “racial.”
Speaking to ESPN, Thunder point guard Raymond Felton confirmed Westbrook’s account of events, saying that its “just not right for Russ to have to deal with that when they said something to him first, and they said something totally disrespectful.”
Keisel also spoke to reporters after the game, claiming that he merely said to Westbrook “ice up those knees” before “he [Westbrook] just went nuts.”
https://twitter.com/JJSportsBeat/status/1105317021686751234
However, while Keisel claims to have been acting innocently and having “fun” with Westbrook, telling ESPN that the altercation “started off as fun” and that Westbrook was “smiling at one point”, ESPN’s Taylor Twellman and other Twitter users pointed out in a series of tweets that Keisel allegedly has a history of saying disparaging things about Westbrook and using the n-word on an account he allegedly managed.
https://twitter.com/taylortwellman/status/1105457387333246976?s=11
https://twitter.com/airforcejuan11/status/1105338915706171392
https://twitter.com/shaunkyser/status/1105343606548684800
Keisel has since deleted his Twitter account and cannot be found on Facebook or LinkedIn.
Twitter
