Earl Stevens, the rapper known as E-40, wasn’t in Sacramento for Monday night’s Warriors-Kings Game 2. Instead, he was everywhere.
The Philadelphia 76ers were heard playing “Tell Me When To Go” over the PA during their own Game 2 win over the Brooklyn Nets. TNT’s “Inside the NBA” introduced its halftime show for Kings-Warriors with “Choices,” a very funny song that includes the lyric: “You a loser? (Nope) Winner? (Yup) / Starving? (Nope), Dinner? (Yup).” At their shootaround on Monday, the Warriors were exclusively playing E-40 in solidarity, with reporters sharing videos that had them shooting with “Yay Area,” “Choices” and “Tell Me When To Go” blasting in the background. And even the Kings were playing the “NOPE” clip from “Choices” when the home team blocked a shot on Monday night.
It’s a curious, well, choice from a franchise that claims to be “investigating” Stevens’ claim of ‘racial bias'” after his ejection on Saturday night. Stevens, who said he’ll be at Thursday night’s Game 3 in the friendlier territory of San Francisco, alleged that Golden 1 Center security ejected him from Game 1 after an incident that another fans instigated.
In a statement, the rapper said that a white woman was heckling him all night and that he finally confronted her in the fourth quarter. “Unfortunately, it was yet another reminder that — despite my success and accolades as a musician and entrepreneur — racial bias remains prevalent,” Stevens said. “Security saw a disagreement between a Black man and a White woman and immediately assumed that I was at fault.”
The Kings released a statement in response: “The Sacramento Kings take these claims seriously and are investigating the facts and circumstances regarding the situation, as we do anytime an accusation like this is made.”
In previous years, this would have been a “Curse of E-40” situation, a phrase at least one ESPN personality was trying out this week. But the good old days of the Warriors dynasty appear to be just that. In lieu of good karma, they’ll just have to settle for their most reliable fan becoming the soundtrack of the NBA playoffs. And the Warriors can blast “Choices” in Cabo.