Twelve years is long enough to forgive and forget about being attacked on live television, right? Such is the case between Metta World Peace and John Green, the Pistons fan who threw a cup full of beer at him that incited the most shocking moments in the history of sport, infamously known as "The Malice at the Palace" during the Pacers-Pistons game on November 19, 2004 in Detroit's Palace of Auburn Hills arena.
Today on ESPN's The Jump with Rachel Nichols, former Pacer Stephen Jackson spoke about "The Malice at The Palace" and mentioned that he and World Peace are actually now close friends. He also said that World Peace and Green "speak daily."
Metta World Peace (then known as Ron Artest) started the melee after he had fouled Pistons All-Star center Ben Wallace, the two confronted each other, and the team benches cleared to break up the potential fight. As the tensions had seemed to die down, World Peace lay on the scorer's table, and Pistons fan John Green chucked a cup full of beer at him from the stands.
World Peace's temper flared, and he jumped over the scorer's table to attack Green. A riot ensued involving Jackson throwing haymakers at fans in the crowd, Jermaine O'Neal clocking another Pistons fan with a memorable flying-Rougned Odor-like right cross, and Jamaal Tinsley threatening fans with a dustpan he found on his way to the team's locker room.
You can see in the clip below what Jackson had to saw about Green and World Peace now being BFFs.
Another great example of time healing all wounds. We are still waiting on that IG pic to verify Green and World Peace can have a beer together in, well, peace.
