7 Year Anniversary Of Buffett’s Ejection From Heat Game

Seven years ago today Jimmy Buffett was ejected from a Miami Heat game for swearing at referee Joe Forte, who didn’t even know who Buffett was. Jimmy is a season ticket holder and regularly attends Heat games.

After the game, referee Joe Forte said that he ordered the singer moved during the fourth quarter because “there was a little boy sitting next to him (Buffett’s son Cameron) and a lady sitting by him. He used some words he knows he shouldn’t have used.”

However, Forte apparently didn’t know who he’d just removed from the arena. Heat coach Pat Riley tried to explain who Buffett was to Forte and was censured himself because the referee thought Riley was insulting him by asking if he’d ever been a “Parrothead,” the nickname for Buffett’s loyal fans.

In the days after, Buffett appeared in various media, including the Today Show. In one interview, Buffett mentioned that he was more upset that some news outlets reported that Cameron was actually his grandson, not his son.

In a Q&A with Sports Illustrated, Buffett recanted the incident:

I got tossed for yelling at a game by referee Joe Forte. It was a big international incident (laughs). I’d say it’s nothing I had not heard from the bench or people around me. Yeah, my son was next to me and I apologized to him first. It was a bad call. It still is a rotten call! John Starks clobbered Tim Hardaway. It was a close game. I just said you stupid, mother——, that is the worst call I ever heard. People yell all the time but he turned at me. Normally, referees do not make eye contact. So while he did not come over to me, he told the local security guard. By then the crowd was getting into it. Pat Reilly was on the bench, asking ‘They are kicking you out of the game? Alonzo was like: Sit down. You stay there. I told the security guard. This is probably not a good idea. Then they came to me and said they would give the Heat a technical foul. So I said, Okay, I’ll go.

Read more about Buffett’s ejection, along with other Incidents in Jimmy’s life, here.