Last week a little boy in New Orleans ran onto the court in the middle of a game between the Pelicans and Knicks to hug Carmelo Anthony. It was adorable and unexpected, but Smoothie King Arena isn’t laughing about it.
Two people got fired after that little kid ran on the court to hug Carmelo Anthony
James Dator has been covering a wide range of sports for SB Nation for over a decade, with a special focus on the NFL.
In the wake of the hug the Pelicans’ home venue is tightening security and even going so far as to fire an usher and ask that an off duty police officer who worked games no longer is retained as security. Smoothie King Center general manager Alan Freeman told The Times-Picayune that the usher was responsible for watching the aisle and ensuring a crowd control barrier was in place, while the officer was out of position too.
“Then, there is a police officer stationed in that general area also, and he was not doing his job,” Freeman said. “So essentially what happened there is that you get two people who were not doing their responsibilities and that led to a black eye for us as the building operator.
“So what we have done since then is first of all, we obviously replaced those two people who failed to do their jobs - the usher and the police officer.”
The reason for concern might have come from a fun moment, but the center’s concerns are valid. The protection and safety of players and fans has to be of the utmost importance, and that was compromised -- even if it came from a 10-year-old.
As a result, Smoothie King Center staff were given intensive training on security, which involved watching video of the infamous stabbing of tennis star Monica Seles, which occurred in 1993 in Germany.
