Justin Timberlake Edited for Joke at 2008 ESPYs

By Jayar Jackson

Now that everyone has had the chance to see the ESPYs 15 times in the last few days, the controversy of Justin Timberlake's hosting performance has made its rounds.

Boy bander turned all-around entertainer JT seems to be making a living off of his sports related performances needing a tape delay.

How could anyone forget his role in the infamous wardrobe malfunction at the Super Bowl XXXVIII halftime performance with Janet Jackson, forcing CBS to implement a tape delay to avoid the FCC the next time around?

Well, our man Justin has now brought his line pushing to the doors of ESPN.

While joking about the Celtics' NBA Champion Paul Pierce's knee injury from Game 1 of the Finals this year, Timberland described his dramatic return as "shucking and jiving" back onto the floor. Although he had been getting laughs all evening, reports say that this joke evoked crickets from the audience of celebrities and professional athletes.

In case you're wondering, Pierce is Black and the term "shuckin and jivin" is a racially offensive way to describe Black people in trouble. It dates back to slavery days in America where a slave may try to quickly come up with a story to tell a White authority figure to get himself out of some mischief.

If it's still not sinking in, the negative imagery that comes to my mind is a Black man, fumbling and stuttering over his words, obviously lying to avoid some sharp and severe punishment for stepping outside of his box. He thinks he's smart, but he'll never fool the wiser White guy.

Unsurprisingly, ESPN utilized their 4 day gap between taping and broadcasting the event to edit out the controversial joke.

Should fans be annoyed and upset over Timberlake's irresponsible use of the term? Definitely. Should Timberlake apologize and move on with his life? Of course, that's what celebrities do. Should people assume that he is a racist that harbors negative thoughts and feelings about Black people? Hell no.

First of all, no one even knows who wrote that joke, and even if Timberlake did, it's pretty apparent that it was misplaced. The images of Pierce bouncing back onto the basketball court after being taken out on a wheelchair probably looked a little like a dance to some. The "jiving" of Timberlake's lame joke seemed to fit in his mind, not realizing that the term has origins of hate, ridicule, and mistreatment.

Pierce wasn't explaining anything, he wasn't coming up with a story to get himself out of any trouble as the term requires.

Bottom line, let him go; stop calling him a racist, a "wigger," (a term I happen to hate) and just keep buying his music every guy tries to hate, but secretly loves. Go ahead, play "FutureSex/LoveSounds the next time your boys come over (because you know you secretly have it). You'll get clowned at first, but they'll soon subconsciously start bobbing their heads!

Celtic Paul Pierce... Dragon Slayer! As Lakers "Wet The Bed" and Loose NBA Finals Game 4

Forget the Kevin Garnett mystique. Forget that "Sleeping Giant" Ray Allen, may have finally woken up. This NBA finals will be remembered for Boston Celtics' "The Man", who before Garnett and Allen arrived was "the man", and who remains "the man"... Paul Pierce.

The Boston Celtics were down 24 points in the 4th quarter and steamrolled back to win the game and make history with the greatest come from behind win in NBA Finals History. Last night in game four of the NBA Finals Kobe Bryant scored only 17 points. He was being guarded by Paul Pierce... enough said.

Los Angeles, CA (Sports Network) - The Boston Celtics used their defense to generate one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history and now stand one win from their first championship since 1986.

Paul Pierce scored 20 points as the Celtics rallied from a 24-point first-half deficit to beat the Los Angeles Lakers, 97-91, in Game 4 of the NBA Finals. Boston's defense locked down on Kobe Bryant and outscored the Lakers, 57-33 in the second half.

"It's just great mental toughness," Boston coach Doc Rivers said. "We've been preaching leaning in. When things get bad, we leaned into each other all year and tonight we did it."

The Celtics, trying for their record 17th championship, lead the best-of-seven series, 3-1, by virtue of just their third road victory in this year's playoffs.

Kevin Garnett added 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Ray Allen made a huge contribution with 19 points and nine rebounds. James Posey scored 18, which included a big three-pointer in the final two minutes.

Bryant was limited to 17 points and 10 assists on 6-of-19 shooting for the Lakers, who were ahead by 20 halfway through the third before collapsing and watching their 15-game home winning streak come to a crashing halt. The Lakers had been 9-0 at the Staples Center in the playoffs, but suffered their first home defeat since March 28 to Memphis.

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Boston Celtics; The New Dream Team On a Roll

THE CHAMPIONSHIP JOURNEY HAS BEGUN, AND IT DOESN'T SEEM LIKE ANY TEAM CAN STOP THEM.

Last night the new and highly improved Celtics routed the Denver Nuggets

BOSTON - It's hard to believe, but Boston's newest Big Three thinks it can play even better. Paul Pierce scored 26 points, Kevin Garnett added 23 points and 13 rebounds, and the Celtics shot 72 percent during an overpowering first half en route to a 119-92 victory over the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night. "We are just scratching the surface on what we can do," Pierce said. "We enjoy seeing the next player make a great play and no one cares who gets credit." Boston improved to 3-0 overall and has won both its home games by an average of 24 points. Ray Allen scored 22 points and is shooting 63 percent since joining the Celtics.

"They (Garnett, Pierce and Allen) like each other," Celtics coach Doc Rivers said. "They've all decided that they don't need anything individually and it is all about what's best for the team." The Celtics barely broke a sweat in building a 77-38 halftime lead. Boston had multiple uncontested layups, dunks and an array of dazzling passes, outrebounded Denver 25-9 and dominated essentially every statistic on the box score.

MEANWHILE ...
WHAT'S UP WITH THE DYNAMIC DOUO IVERSON AND CARMELO
Allen Iverson led the Nuggets with 22 points, but Carmelo Anthony was held to only 11 on 3-of-13 shooting. Denver dropped an emotional game on Tuesday in New York, 119-112, after blowing a double-digit lead in the fourth quarter and has lost three straight overall. "It's a game we never had a shot in," Iverson said.
"They jumped right on us and we were never able to take care of business." Iverson appeared to be the only Nuggets player fazed by the huge early deficit. After Eduardo Najera picked up a technical early in the second quarter with Denver trailing 50-25, Iverson barked to referee Scott Wall, "We're down 25, isn't that enough?

Rivers returned for Boston after missing a game due to the death of his father.
"Doc has been preaching to us about repetition," Garnett said. "We knew Denver could put up 150 points if they wanted to, but we want to be known as a defensive team." Garnett, who also chipped in with seven assists, gave Boston its biggest lead of the game at 91-50 when he converted an alley-oop dunk from Pierce with 4:30 left in the third quarter.

Boston shot 65 percent for the game and has won 16 of the last 18 home games against the Nuggets. Boston jumped ahead 38-22 after the first quarter behind 28 points from the trio of Garnett, Allen and Pierce. The Celtics extended the lead to 47-22 with a 9-0 run to begin the second quarter. "I don't remember getting down by that much even on the bad teams in Toronto," Nuggets center Marcus Camby said. Boston recorded its franchise high of 85 points in a half two separate times, both against the Nuggets.

Well this writer is from Detroit, and Pistons, you should be afraid, be very afraid.

Portions of this story courtesy of AP