Charlamagne Tha God said Tuesday that President Donald Trump “sucked the joy out of the city” when he attended Game 3 of the NBA Finals in New York.
The night before, Trump sat in a suite to watch the New York Knicks’ first home NBA Finals game in 27 years. His decision to attend the game was the subject of intense scrutiny in recent days, as his presence brought with it a multitude of added security measures that inconvenienced many.
Fans in attendance, for example, had to go through “TSA-style” security screenings and were advised to show up two hours early.
Outside Madison Square Garden, a highly anticipated watch party was canceled, and the NYPD shut down a 12-block area to both vehicle and pedestrian traffic four hours before the game even began.
When Trump was shown on the big screen during the singing of the national anthem, he received heavy boos from the crowd. The Knicks later lost the game, snapping a historic 13-game win streak in the playoffs.
Some Knicks fans have even gone as far as accusing Trump of cursing the team.
While Charlamagne didn’t go that far, he did argue that the president took the “joy” out of the Knicks’ playoff run.
“Donald Trump wasn’t responsible for the loss of the game, but he was responsible for the loss of joy that the New York Knicks fans had been feeling,” he said on The Breakfast Club on Tuesday. “One of the greatest things about this whole playoff run, this Finals run, is watching the joy that Knicks fans have. I’ve never seen anything like it in New York City — not for the Yankees, not for the Giants. There’s nothing like when the Knicks are winning. And Donald Trump came here yesterday and sucked the joy out of the city.”
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