Joel Embiid Fires Back with NSFW Response to French Fans Booing Him at Paris Olympics.Giang

Joel Embiid has a NSFW message for the fans booing him at the Paris Olympics.

Embiid, 30, hasn’t been able to touch the basketball during the 2024 Games without sections of the crowd breaking out into loud boos thanks to French fans who are upset with the NBA star for choosing Team USA after having considered playing for Team France.

Still, Embiid isn’t backing down when it comes to the disapproving fans in Paris.

“I frankly don’t understand why I’ve got a lot of criticism from the crowd,” Embiid told reporters, including PEOPLE, on Friday, Aug. 9, the day after the U.S. men’s basketball team’s thrilling comeback win over Serbia.

The Philadelphia 76ers star defended his decision to join Team USA, saying, “Having lived half my life in the U.S. and the other half in my country Cameroon, it just looked like you could go two ways, and I’ve always said from the beginning — everybody knew that if Cameroon would’ve qualified, that would’ve never been a choice.”

And in a saucy message to the basketball fans in France unhappy with his decision, Embiid said, “I know myself, I’m going to interact and I’m going to enjoy it. They’re going to boo me. I’m going to go back at them and tell ’em to suck it. And so it’s going to be fun.”

Embiid added that “having a family” in the U.S. and “knowing the group of guys” on Team USA “made it easy” to choose the team for the 2024 Games.

“But I think a lot of people wanted it to be because of a storyline and all that stuff, but to me it’s all about doing whatever it takes to win the gold,” he said.

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Embiid also teased that he’d want to return to the Olympic Games when Los Angeles hosts in 2028 — but potentially with a new team. “We’ll see. I don’t know, maybe it might not be with Team USA,” he said, playing coy.

The rift between Embiid and French fans stems from a disagreement in negotiations between Embiid and Jean-Pierre Siutat, the president of France Basketball.

Embiid was born in Cameroon and moved to the U.S. at 16. Although he’s never lived in France, he has family that resides in the country and speaks fluent French, according to The Athletic.

Siutat reportedly claims that Embiid misled him into pulling strings to get French passports for himself and his young son, Arthur, with the expectation that Embiid would play for Team France. He was granted French citizenship in 2022, but ultimately decided to team up with LeBron James and Stephen Curry to play for the United States, much to the dismay of French fans.

On Saturday, Aug. 10, Team USA will play France for the gold medal in what’s sure to be an exciting matchup.