During the 3rd Quarter of 2018 NBA Finals Game 2 Cleveland Cavaliers vs Golden State Warriors, ABC and ESPN flashed a photo of a person in a hoodie cooking on a charcoal grill on Lake Merritt.
The photo, that was shown with the Cadillac sponsor logo in the foreground along with the Larry O’Brien Trophy. But, the image was vastly different than any of the other Oakland-centered ones shown before the commercial breaks for the telecasts from Oracle Arena in Oakland.
For those who don’t know, the Oakland BBQ Becky occurred on April 29th, 2018 at just after 11 in the morning on that Sunday. A group of people, most African American, were setting up what would be a normal barbecue gathering on the shore of Lake Merritt next to Lakeshore Drive. For reasons still not entirely clear, a woma named Jennifer Schulte allegedly started bugging and berating the group, and was said to have referred to their race. Then, not happy that the crew was ignoring her anger over the use of a charcoal grill, called the Oakland police. That caused Michelle Snider to whip out her smart phone and start recording a video asking Ms. Schulte why she felt it necessary to call the Oakland Police on a group of black folks just for barbecuing.
The video has been seen more than 2 million times to this point. The image of Jennifer Schulte wearing sunglases and using her smartphone to call the police has become an Internet and social media meme, part of skits on Saturday Night Live, and now part of the NBA Finals.
Stay tuned.