Sacramento Kings center DeMarcus Cousins went on a half-naked, profanity-laced tirade against a local newspaper columnist earlier this week in the team’s locker room.
Sacramento Bee columnist Andy Furillo after Furillo wrote last week about a recent incident involving Cousins and Matt Barnes at a New York nightclub. Barnes allegedly choked a woman and Cousins “sucker punched” her boyfriend.
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Furillo's story also made mention of an incident in May in which Cousins and his brother, a former University of South Florida basketball player, were involved in an altercation at a Tampa, Fla., bar. Cousins’ brother was arrested.
On Monday, after the Kings beat the Lakers, a freshly showered Cousins confronted Furillo.
“We’re going to have some real f—ing issues. Don’t ever mention my brother again. You don't know my f—ing brother. F—ing coward,” Cousins said in a video posted by The Bee. “You say whatever the f—you want to say about me but don't mention my motherf—ing family.”
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Apparently, this isn’t the first time Cousins has had run-ins with local media. The video produced by The Bee is a compilation of Cousins bullying reporters.
“He is a bully, to be sure,” columnist Ailene Voisin said in a Friday column written by The Bee's executive editor, Joyce Terhaar. “He bullies everybody. He bullies his coaches, his teammates, team employees, reporters."
The Kings released a statement Thursday about Cousins’ tirade.
“We are committed to being open and transparent, and any hint of media censorship is unacceptable,” the team said. “There is an ongoing review into this matter, and we will take the appropriate steps immediately upon its conclusion.”
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Terhaar took off the gloves for her piece.
“Sports franchises can contribute to the quality of life in a city,” she wrote. “The tribal identity — sometimes lifelong — attached to teams fosters civic pride and community fun.
“It doesn’t take much to ruin that. A losing team is one thing. A franchise player who regularly bullies the journalists covering him is another. And management that enables such behavior is not fitting of an operation working to be at the center of entertainment in this city.”