nav bhatia

Raptors superfan Nav Bhatia buys racist man dinner in Milwaukee

Superfan Nav Bhatia is known for his dedication to the Toronto Raptors as the fan who's never missed a Raptors home game since they first began playing in 1995. 

In the last year, his love for the NBA championship team became well-known around the world, but so has his message of unity between people of all ages and backgrounds. 

But during the Eastern Conference Finals, things got nasty on Twitter right as Superfan Nav Bhatia's love for the Raptors was going viral.

A Milwaukee fan tweeted something derogatory toward the Superfan. At first he ignored it, but then he noticed something changing in the conversation. 

"I witnessed (him) being attacked on social media for what he said. When I say attacked, I mean attacked," Bhatia said in a statement. "That's when me and my manager stepped in."

The Superfan tweeted in response, and ultimately wanted the hate to stop. 

After a barrage of back and forth comments between fans from both teams calling out the tweet, the user deleted his account. He created a new one and sent Bhatia a direct message apologizing for what was said.

"I thought that was very big of him so I asked my manager to get a hold of him so we could talk," Bhatia said.

"We had a great conversation. He was very remorseful for what he had said on twitter. It was done in the heat of a playoff series and he was trying to be funny, he knows he was wrong." 

Fast forward to this month, and Bhatia has met with the Milwakuee fan in his home city. 

Bhatia flew in, had dinner with the fan and his family, and was even able to get the fans' son to his first NBA game ever.

"See I didn't reward racism, I rewarded an incredibly brave and remorseful individual who made a mistake,"the Superfan said.

 "Now as he said, we are friends for life."

Lead photo by

@navbhatiasuperfan


Latest Videos



Join the conversation Load comments

Latest in Sports

NHL might have an all Canadian division next year due to border restrictions

Avril Lavigne surprises NFL player who was singing her song while training

Steve Nash is the second Canadian to be named head coach of an NBA team

Golf course straddling the Canada-U.S. border won't let members cross over

NHL just postponed all of the playoff games tonight

Fans and players condemn NHL for going ahead with games while other leagues boycott

NHL says players have no plans to boycott games and nobody is surprised

How systemic racism shaped the history of Canada's swimming pools