PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — A 76ers star is implying that racism is the reason he and friends were given a hard time getting into a casino early Monday morning. The Crown Casino in Melbourne, Australia, has tried to defend its employees' actions, but it seems Ben Simmons isn't ready to accept the explanation.
Simmons signed a $170 million contract extension with the 76ers, announced earlier this month. With that much cash coming in, he can afford a couple trips to the casino. Early Monday morning, Simmons posted a video to his Instagram account of him with three friends at the Melbourne casino. In the video, Simmons claims only one person in the group was allowed in — and that friend also happened to be the only white man in the group.
"And they didn't let me in, or him ... or this guy. Wow," he said.
Simmons responded on Twitter on Tuesday morning, saying "my friends and I felt personally singled out, no one likes to feel like this. I am very passionate about equality and I will always speak up even if it means having uncomfortable conversations."
As you know an incident happened last night at Crown and my friends and I felt personally singled out, no one likes to feel like this. I am very passionate about equality and I will always speak up even if it means having uncomfortable conversations.
— Ben Simmons (@BenSimmons25)
August 6, 2019
