On Sunday, Smith said to a camera in a video he shared that “one of these little [expletive] white boys didn’t know where he was going and broke my [expletive] window in my truck. Broke my [expletive] — this is a residential area, there wasn’t no stores over here, none of that [expletive] — broke my window.
“I chased him down and whooped his ass,” Smith continued. “So if the footage comes out and y’all see it, I chased him down and whooped his ass. He broke my window.”
Of the more than 2,500 arrests over the weekend related to protests in two dozen U.S. cities, nearly a fifth were in Los Angeles, according to a tally by The Washington Post. That city’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, said Saturday that the National Guard was being deployed there “to maintain peace and safety,” and on Sunday he extended a citywide, overnight curfew.
Smith was spotted in Los Angeles on Saturday riding a bicycle along with former Cleveland Cavaliers teammate LeBron James, who now plays for the Los Angeles Lakers. Another former Cavs teammate, Jordan Clarkson of the Utah Jazz, posted a photo Saturday that appeared to show Smith, wearing a mask, joining him and others in walking with protesters.
Smith posted a photo Saturday, tagged as having been in Hollywood, that showed several protesters atop a burned-out car. He wrote in a caption, “NO JUSTICE! NO PEACE!”
Smith’s remarks Sunday echoed accusations that white extremists have taken advantage of the unrest to engage in acts of violence and destruction.
“I’m upset, enraged, because once again, white people are co-opting a movement that’s built by black folks,” a community organizer in Minneapolis told the Daily Beast.
Smith asserted that what he did to the alleged window-breaker was not a “hate crime.”
“I ain’t got no problem with nobody who ain’t got a problem with me,” the 15-year NBA veteran said. “There’s a problem with the [expletive] system, that’s it. … He didn’t know whose window he broke, and he got his ass whooped.”
Smith, 34, has been a free agent since he was released in July by the Cavaliers, whom he helped win an NBA title in 2016. His comments Sunday came two years to the day after he committed a memorable gaffe while playing for Cleveland in the 2018 Finals.