‘PRETTY CRAZY’

Boston Celtics’ Enes Kanter Says He Was Harassed Outside Cambridge Mosque

“You should be safe to come in a mosque and pray peacefully. It was the first time it’s happened to me in America,” he said.

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter said he was harassed outside of a Cambridge, Massachusetts, mosque Friday due to his political opposition to the president of Turkey. Kanter, a Turkish basketball player signed by the Celtics this summer, posted a video on Twitter that showed him and teammate Tacko Fall outside the Islamic Society of Boston, where at least two men address Kanter. “They were screaming, they were yelling, they were cursing,” Kanter told reporters before the Celtics’ open practice. “They were talking in Turkish so you guys probably don’t understand what they said. But it was pretty crazy, because this is America. You should be safe to come in a mosque and pray peacefully. It was the first time it’s happened to me in America.” Kanter has been a vocal critic of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan, previously referring to him as “the Hitler of our century.” Kanter said he will likely be accompanied by full-time security in the future.