News

Nets Fan Uses Fake Leg To Beat Someone

by Kat George

In today's Huh, That's Random News, some prosthetic leg beating went down at Madison Square Garden last night during a Nets/Knicks match. According to witnesses (including people who—as you can always count on people to do—documented the scuffle for social media, as seen below), Nets "super fan" Jeffrey Gamblero allegedly took off his prosthetic leg to beat someone, although some reports suggest that security was responsible for treating the man poorly. The original story goes like this: For some reason, a Nets fan became so incensed he took off his prosthetic leg and began to beat someone with it, before being hauled of by security. Someone once told me about an episode of the Real Housewives or one of those other hysterical reality shows where a woman attacked another woman with a prosthetic leg. So it's not the first time I've heard of a prosthetic being used as a weapon.

However, it's since been reported that the man in question was not at fault, and that the security guards has mishandled the situation. This conflicting statement was given by someone just named "Max" who was sitting behind Gamblero at the time of the incident (via SBNation):

"[Gamblero] was being his usual self, absolutely no cursing, no negative cheering, just dancing and loud cheering for the Nets. Never attacked a Knicks fan, never got out of hand. After halftime a guard came up and told him to “cool down and just be a fan.” Obviously didn’t know who he was. He said what did I do wrong? Should I be quiet? They said no, just cool it down. He started loudly cheering FOR the Knicks doing “go New York go New York go,” etc. The guards came back and told him to stop. He said why? Is this a library? Then the main guard on the floor gave the signal to kick him out. He would not leave. A guard then touched his leg and he said “ouch you’re hurting me I have a prosthetic leg.” He then took off the leg, which is when things escalated. More and more guards surrounded him as he watched the game with his leg resting on his shoulder. They tried to get him to put his leg on, threatened to arrest him if he wouldn’t, but he wasn’t moving. He started saying “why are you doing this I just love basketball so much,” he was clearly overwhelmed. After about ten minutes, four guards grabbed him and carried him out as he screamed in pain. I am a lifelong Nets fan but regardless, this was one of the cruelest and most upsetting things I have ever seen."

The mystery continues as to whether or not the prosthetic was used as a weapon or if the security were just being jerks. Either way, this Instagram video of Gamblero being carried away by security guards is fairly harrowing to watch: