Brooklyn Nets fan with prosthetic leg carried out of MSG seats during Knicks loss
The man was identified on social media as Nets 'super fan' Jeffrey Gamblero, a conspicuous presence at Nets home games. He is usually shown dancing on the Barclays
A loud Brooklyn Nets fan was carried from his MSG seats Tuesday night kicking and screaming... sort of.
There was plenty of commotion in the upper deck with around five minutes to play in the third quarter of Brooklyn’s 98-93 win over the Knicks as a man with one leg was yanked from his seats - sans his prosthetic limb.
According to a pair of Garden security guards who declined to be identified, the man pulled off his prosthetic leg and hit another fan with it, inciting a ruckus in the upper deck.
“They grabbed him and pulled him out,” the staffer said. “I don’t know if he was arrested but they got him out of there so he didn’t start a riot.”
Some eyewitness accounts and social media reports dispute the story from MSG security.
“I saw what happened,” said one fan, who also didn’t’ want to be identified. “He didn’t deserve to be thrown out. He was just into the game.”
The man was identified on social media as Nets “super fan” Jeffrey Gamblero, a conspicuous presence at Nets home games. He is usually shown dancing on the Barclays Center Jumbotron.Video posted to Instagram and Twitter by @jeigs, a NYC comedian named Jesse Eigner, shows the man, decked out in Brooklyn Nets attire with neon green accents, being physically removed from the section, carried out head over heel.
Near the end of the clip, security appears to drop the Gamblero.
“I know he’s a big fan,” Nets forward Alan Anderson told the Daily News following the game. “I just looked up and saw what happened, that he was carried out. I don’t know what caused it. I know he’s a big fan for us, though.”
When told that when Gamblero was carried off did not have his prosthetic limb on, Anderson looked up, incredulous.
“For real? Who took it off,” he said.
Gamblero gained a slice of notoriety when he was profiled in The New York Times last month where he was identified by another name (Jeffrey Vanchiro) and admitted that he wears neon green to gain attention.
He is a former graffiti artist and lost the lower part of his left leg in an unspecified accident. He was once indicted on felony charges for vandalizing subway stations and was sentenced to a month on Rikers Island, according to the Times story. — Mitch Abramson | NY Daily News
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UPDATE: A fan named Max was sitting behind Gamblero. Here’s his first-hand account of the situation (all typos/errors are [sic]):
"(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."
Only in NY will a fan remove his leg to stop security from kicking him out (it didn't stop them). #Knicks #MSG pic.twitter.com/dIZwVBmGJk
— Eric Soufer (@EricSoufer) December 3, 2014
Well-Known Brooklyn Nets Fan Carried Out Of MSG After Reportedly Hitting Man With Prosthetic Leg
NEW YORK (PIX11) – A popular Brooklyn Nets fan was carried out of Madison Square Garden Tuesday night by multiple security guards — leaving his prosthetic leg, clad in a neon-green Nike shoe, in the stands.A security guard told The New York Daily News that the man, identified on social media as 38-year-old Nets “super fan” Jeffrey Gamblero, pulled off his prosthetic leg and hit another fan with it, sparking the ruckus.
The commotion began in the upper deck with five minutes left to play in the the third quarter of Brooklyn’s 98-93 win over the Knicks, according to the paper.However, some fans at MSG dispute the security guard’s story and say the man was just into the game and didn’t deserve to be thrown out.
Gamblero is well-known to Nets players and fans alike, and is often shown dancing on the Barclays Center Jumbotron, always dressed in his signature eye-catching neon. Gamblero, formerly a prolific graffiti writer before launching a poker career, was profiled in the New York Times last month. Gamblero lost his leg when he was 21 years old in an unspecified incident, according to the piece.
Video of the ejection was posted to Instagram and Twitter by @jeigs, a NYC comedian named Jesse Eigner. It shows a man with a Gamblero Nets jersey being carried out of MSG by security guards without his prosthetic limb.
It’s unclear what preceded the clash with security, another witness posted a photo with the caption, “Only in NY will a fan remove his leg to stop security from kicking him out (it didn’t stop them).” — PIX11
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