Jayson Tatum Offers NSFW Message to Fans Still Trolling Him for Getting Benched at Olympics

NBA star Jayson Tatum is still getting trolling comments about riding the bench at the Paris Olympics — and he had an explicit response for fans who won’t let it go.

In a post-game interview after he and the Boston Celtics lost to the Golden State Warriors 118-112 on Wednesday, Nov. 6, Tatum, 26, shared how he really feels about the endless comments months after the Olympics ended, per Sports Illustrated.

“I mean, that’s part of this job, that’s what I’ve been dealing with my entire career. People want me to be louder, people want me to be meaner, whatever. One thing about Jayson is, I’m always going to do what the f— I want to do,” said Tatum.

“People who react differently, it’s easy to say if they were in my shoes what they would do,” he continued. “I appreciate when it comes from a good place, but like I said I’m always going to react, respond, approach things the way I want to.”

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Team USA coach Steve Kerr — who is also the head coach of the Warriors — talked before Wednesday’s game about why he benched Tatum during the men’s basketball semifinal against Serbia, which the U.S. went on to win 95-91 to secure their spot in the gold medal final.

“We can’t control the story,” Kerr said. “So that’s this job. I tell our players all the time, the NBA is incredibly popular, and the reason it’s so lucrative and a part of the deal is you’re gonna be in the story. So that can be tough. But from the beginning in Vegas the whole thing was we’re in this together.”

“We’ve got 12 Hall of Famers and we’re just committed to winning, and we won a gold medal,” he continued. “So I don’t give it a whole lot of thought other than that I didn’t enjoy not playing Jayson against Serbia, not playing Joel against South Sudan. Those are not fun decisions.”

The fans in Boston, though, made it clear on Wednesday that they were on Tatum’s side, by loudly booing Kerr during pre-game introductions.

The Boston Celtics will next face the Brooklyn Nets on Friday, Nov. 8.