When Game 1 of the Eastern Conference semifinals tipped off between the New York Knicks and Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden, superfan Ben Stiller was not in his usual seat.
Stiller, the star of films like 'Zoolander' and 'Night at the Museum' among others, was not present to watch the Knicks take the first game of the series. Instead, he was a few blocks uptown at the Met Gala, where he stepped out in a suit alongside other celebrities dressed in haute couture.
Stiller faced some backlash from fans for his choice of evening activities, with the actor and filmmaker addressing the situation on The Pat McAfee Show.
'It's been a really interesting experience because I didn't even think anybody really would care that much about whether or not I was there or not, you know, in terms of like the reaction to it,' Stiller said on the program.
'As a fan I wanted to be at that Knicks game more than anything. I was invited to the Met Gala three months ago and I didn't wanna cancel on our friend. We wore our Knicks colors and I was watching on my phone.'
Stiller, a diehard Knicks fan, explained his absence from the Eastern Conference semis. On the night of that game, Stiller had already planned to attend the Met Gala.
He added, 'It's been an interesting learning experience for me as a fan because I've had to process this, like the reaction and how people sort of react, you know, knowing what the circumstances are in the context of it all. Like, I can't explain the context to everybody in the world. So for me as a fan, I wanted to be at that Knicks game more than anything.'
Stiller went on to explain that he has 'tried to work my professional work life' around the basketball team over the course of the past season. 'But this, this Met Gala thing was something I had— a friend of mine invited us three months ago. And as the dates were coming up, of course you don't know what the playoff dates are going to be as they come up. And about a week before, I started to see this because I thought I'd thought of every other permutation in terms of clearing my schedule for playoff games, and this was there.'
Stiller said, 'I felt I would be— as a friend, it would be lame to cancel on our friend who we don't see for this thing.' While he wasn't at the game in person, Stiller did try to make an effort to represent his favorite team at the Met Gala. 'All I tried to do was... okay, we're gonna wear our Knicks colors... I'm gonna have my phone... Anna Wintour doesn't like when people are watching their phones at the Met Gala, you know, she wants everybody's attention to be there, which I understand.'
Stiller said his wife, Christine, told him they couldn't back out - but they wore Knicks colors. Stiller returned to Madison Square Garden to watch the Knicks win Game 2 of the series. 'I was watching the game, checking on it, but it was really, really tough. And I said to Christine the night before, I said, I think I'm going to get some shit for this... And she said, look, we have to do it. It's our friend. We're going to make that— we made this commitment. There's nothing to do. We can't cancel. Thought about canceling. And I said, I can't do it.'
Stiller did return for Game 2 of the series and watched the Knicks beat the 76ers 108-102. Game 3 takes place in Philadelphia on Friday evening.
