DOCUMENT: Celebrity, Sports

NBA Star In "Wife-Beater" Row

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NBA Star In "Wife-Beater" Row

Turns out the most heated action in the NBA playoff series between the Boston Celtics and the New Jersey Nets has taken place in the stands. That's where Celts fans have been razzing Nets guard Jason Kidd as a "wife-beater," due to the All-Star's January 2001 arrest for striking wife Joumana during an argument.

Nets coach Byron Scott has called the chanting fans "idiots," while Kidd teammate Kenyon Martin has termed them "asshole people."

Kidd's wife weighed in today (5/30) via an interview with the New York Post, blasting the Boston supporters as "ignorant people." But when Joumana Kidd spoke to a Paradise Valley, Arizona police dispatcher after being struck by her husband, she sure did make it sound like the athlete had a history of such behavior: "Don't worry about me," she said, "this is minor compared to what I usually go through."

Listen for yourself: