Rapper Wale confronted Toronto Raptors TV announcer Matt Devlin during Tuesday’s Washington Wizards-Toronto Raptors in DC game after being mocked on the visiting team’s telecast.
Wale is a Washington DC native and fan of the local sports teams. He was exchanging words with Rudy Gay as the Raptors forward went off for 12 points during the second quarter. The exchange between the two was described on TV by Raptors announcer Matt Devlin, who slighted the rapper in the process.
Devlin emphasized that Wale was a “local” rapper even though the performer is known internationally, and continued to mock him.
“Wale’s inspiring. I’m sure somebody on Twitter can tell me exactly if they’ve heard of Wale. He’s not Drake, that’s for sure.”
Word of Devlin’s trash talk must have gotten back to Wale, because he tweeted at the announcer:
@mattdevlinraps watch ur mouth
— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
Wale, still apparently upset with Devlin, tried confronting the broadcast team.
Matters must have been smoothed out between both sides. Wale later tweeted in response to Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan to downplay the incident:
@demar_derozan lol nothin.. Everybody hype . It was a slow night
— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
Gay even tweeted to let everyone know that matters were good between him and the rapper:
Me and @wale was just joking y’all. Thats my boy right there.
— Rudy Gay (@rudygay22) February 20, 2013
Wale still seemed confused about why he had received negative attention for his actions:
On the Internet when u defend urself ur criticized for being less of a man. There’s NO honor in defending yourself,or your name.
— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
Somebody call u out your name . And you confront them . YOU wrong . So who u cheerin for the people who take insults in stride?Since when
— Wale Folarin(@Wale) February 20, 2013
So, apparently there wasn’t “heckling” going on as Devlin described it. Either that, or it was all of a friendly nature. So does this mean it was a just another rapper looking for attention at an NBA game? Where have we seen that before.
Videos via Eye on Basketball, Beyond the Buzzer
