A social media personality who has gained popularity from his resemblance to Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson has been banned from Chase Center for life.
YouTuber BigDawsTV has attended Warriors games in full Thompson uniform for four years now. He has sat behind the Golden State bench and filmed videos as pranks while impersonating the NBA star.
On June 13, he took the act a step too far.
In his usual Thompson attire, Warriors shorts, jersey, warm-up and head band, BigDawsTV walked through security and the players’ entrance and greeted everyone as his cameraman captured the footage. Some employees wished him good luck as he made his way to the court. After swishing a couple of jumpers, the YouTuber airballed a layup. That’s when he decided to leave the court.
Here’s the video of fake Klay Thompson sneaking into game 5 of the NBA Finals 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/8T6ERe4Zhm
— Shannonnn sharpes Burner (PARODY Account) (@shannonsharpeee) June 14, 2022
“Excuse me,” an arena employee asked. “Do you guys have NBA credentials? Anything?”
After taking a photo with Bay Area rapper P-Lo, who recognized the YouTuber, Daws was escorted out of the arena. Later, he received a letter officially informing him of his lifetime ban.
Here’s the official letter of my ban. pic.twitter.com/Ii9VTdWI0h
— Daws (@BigDawsTv) June 14, 2022
Daws’ YouTube video received over 1.5 million views in its first 15 hours online, and he made a statement after receiving multiple media requests for interviews.
“Im [sic] being contacted by a lot of news organizations to do interviews,” Daws tweeted. “As of now I will not be doing any. Don’t want to make this a bigger deal than it is, the chase center has every right to ban me. I get it. No hard feelings. Had fun doing it.”
The actual Thompson has yet to make a statement about the situation. Thompson and the Warriors will rack up championship No. 4 if they beat the Boston Celtics in Game 6 of the NBA Finals on June 16.
