George Floyd protests: J.R. Smith regrets beating up man who allegedly vandalised his truck – ‘I’m the only black guy on my block’
- The former NBA player has addressed the incident, which has gone viral, and shows him kicking and punching a man on the street
- Smith, who last played for the Cleveland Cavaliers, called both actions ‘random acts of stupidness’ the following day in a podcast appearance
Former NBA player J.R. Smith has spoken about video that originally surfaced on TMZ Sports showing him beating a young white male who allegedly vandalised his car during the George Floyd riots in Los Angeles June 1.
The video, which does not show the incident in question, instead shows Smith kicking the man repeatedly before he is able to run away. Smith addressed the incident on The Pat McAfee Show podcast.
“It was just a random act of stupidness,” said Smith about the incident. “And I give him that. And that random ass-whooping was a stupid act on my behalf.”
Smith, 34, a former Cleveland Cavaliers player who has not played in the NBA since November of 2019, said he was playing Call of Duty, a popular first-person shooter video game, when he heard helicopters outside his house and went outside to investigate after being alerted by a former teammate.
“I’m the only black guy on my block,” said Smith on the podcast. “I’m the only black person on this corner, so for you to just randomly think you’re just doing something for the people, the one black person who was able to get out of the situation and move into a nice neighbourhood, and do all of those things that we aspire to do, you broke that person’s window without even knowing.”