Memo to sports fans everywhere: If you want to mess with the Lakers, you’re going to have to go through Jack Nicholson first. The 76-year-old actor is arguably the L.A. team’s biggest and most famous fan, so when you’re courtside at Staples Center, you’re in his territory — and he’s apparently not a very forgiving ruler. In fact, he once got Extra host (and Boston Celtics fan) Maria Menounos kicked out of her seat.
Menounos, 35, told the funny anecdote during an appearance on Conan O’Brien‘s show on Monday, June 10. According to her version of events, she and comedian Dane Cook were sitting courtside at Game 6 of the Lakers vs. Celtics 2010 NBA Finals when security appeared and asked them to move.
“We made it our business, our second job, to go to all these games and really rally for our team,” she explained. “And all of a sudden — we’re courtside, I’m screaming, going crazy — I get booted! These guys come and pull us out! I’m like, ‘What is going on?'”
She and Cook later ended up in the Chairman’s Lounge, where they ran into Nicholson coming out of the bathroom. “He’s like, ‘Heh, heh, heh, heh.’ And I thought really quickly and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, what if he…’ And he’s like, ‘I see they moved your seat.’ He got me kicked out! I heard later he called [late Lakers owner] Jerry Buss and had me removed!”
Menounos also had a run-in with Lakers star Kobe Bryant. He spotted her on a red carpet just before the All-Star Game and called her out for wearing bright green (the Celtics’ color). But that story has a happier ending.
“He was like, ‘You know, I actually really respect you,'” Menounos told O’Brien of Bryant. “‘You really stick up for your team, and you’re not scared in our territory to show your love’…He was cool.”
