Toronto Raptors’ security escoted Diar DeRozan, the daughter of Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan, out of Scotiabank Arena on Wednesday night after online threats against the nine-year-old.
The Bulls defeated the Raptors, 109-105, in that play-in game. Chicago erased a 19-point deficit to win the game.
Diar DeRozan went viral during that game, with her screaming when the Raptors took free throws getting a lot of notice. That apparently led to the threats, which were first reported by Chris Haynes of TNT/Bleacher Report. Beth Esler of the Bulls’ public relations department confirmed the online threats to ESPN.
“She’s still a child, you know what I mean,” DeRozan told reporters before a Friday shootaround. “I don’t let her get caught up in the outside fix of it. She just came there for one reason and one reason only, and that was to support her dad. She had the most fun with it. For me, I wanted to protect that moment for her.
“I never would have thought it would go to that extreme that it did. But, you know, it did. Maybe later down the line when she gets older, she will look back at it and realize what really happened.”
He spoke again on the issue following the Bulls’ loss to the Miami Heat in Friday night’s play-in final.
“It’s crazy. It’s the world we live in. No matter how good something could be, you still got miserable people that just don’t have a life, honestly. It’s sad. All I care about is my daughter enjoying her moment.”
[ESPN, Chris Haynes on Twitter]
