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Michael Rapaport, king of colorfully insulting Dolan, is a Code 5. Here’s what that means, according to a source: Rapaport is a 5. He's banned. He's going to be approached by senior leadership. Pretty much, his case would be a director or above. Now, the way they do it, they have lawyers that attend every event in every venue, not the clubs, just the venues, Beacon Theater, Radio City, and the Arena. They would have the conversation, too. He would also be approached with a cop, to kind of lock his ass up for trespassing if he did try to put up a fight.
Now, the league has announced full broadcast details. This year, their games will air on CBS, Paramount+, Triller, and FiteTV. And there are two particularly interesting new names involved, with John Salley as sideline reporter (a role formerly held by Michael Rapaport, which led to some awkward interactions) and Lisa Leslie as an analyst (when she’s not coaching the defending champion Triplets). They’ll join returning analysts Jim Jackson and Avery Johnson as well as play-by-play voices Brian Custer, Ed Cohen, and Carter Blackburn. Here’s more on Salley and Leslie from the league’s release:
Durant has learned that. Whether it’s Michael Rapaport, Jay Williams or a random unverified egg on Twitter, he doesn’t shy away from engaging on social media. While some might unplug, Durant will engage and feed the trolls, for better or worse. “You have people who’ll disconnect and you have people that are fully engaged,” Wanda said. “For [the latter], its therapeutic. The various reactions to social media, Kevin is just a part of it. So why is his first version of engagement with social media so blown up? “And I get the superstar — the best basketball player in the world, hands down, let’s get that clear. Mama said it, and she believes it — and I get that part of it. But you have various responses and engagement levels in social media. So Kevin is just engaging in his life, and social media is just a part of our lives. “If you simplify this to its lowest terms, this is all of us, then you won’t always have to elevate someone to be heroic or villain.”
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Michael Rapaport is trying to put the genie back in the bottle with regards to his social-media feud with Kevin Durant, but it’s way too late for the Nets star. “I feel bad about it,” Rapaport said Friday on Instagram, shortly after Durant was fined $50,000 by the NBA for vulgar messages he sent the famed actor. “I feel bad about my involvement in the situation. I feel bad that it’s gotten this far. I met him one time. It was cool, cordial. I’m a fan. I met him as a fan.”
“This whole thing got way way way more attention than I thought it would,” said Rapaport, who shared the messages to his 2.2 million Instagram followers and went on ESPN Radio to discuss the online feud.
The NBA announces a $50,000 fine for the Nets’ Kevin Durant after his recent exchange with the actor Michael Rapoport: pic.twitter.com/BiLBmGkLV1
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) April 2, 2021
Kevin Durant fined by league
Adrian Wojnarowski: NBA is fining Kevin Durant $50,000 for social exchange with actor, sources tell ESPN.
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Malika Andrews: Steve Nash said that the organization has had internal discussions about profanity-ridden exchange -- which included misogynistic comments -- that Kevin Durant had with Michael Rapaport that was posted on social media. Nash declined to share specifics of the conversation.
Rapaport posted private messages that he said Durant had sent him -- which included threatening language and anti-gay and misogynistic slurs. Coach Steve Nash said the organization had a conversation with Durant about the language used in the exchange.
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