Cleveland Cavaliers veteran Tristan Thompson ruffled feathers in the team’s 131-108 victory over the Toronto Raptors on Wednesday night.
The longtime center, who is only averaging about 7.8 minutes per game these days, scored a last-second dunk at the end of the blowout win. Raptors fans booed Thompson as he jogged back down the court. A few Raptors players got into Thompson’s face as well once the buzzer sounded to signal the end of the game.
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Cleveland Cavaliers’ Tristan Thompson, #13, has words with the Toronto Raptors in an NBA basketball game in Toronto on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.(Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
The skirmish was broken up, but Raptors head coach Darko Rajakovic called the last-minute slam “disrespectful.”
“I think what Tristan did there was no class and disrespectful,” Rajakovic said. “I’m not going to stand for that, for sure. I love when my team stands up for themselves. That was no class.”
Raptors guards Scottie Barnes and Jamal Shead were among those who confronted Thompson. Barnes declined to comment after the game, but Shead agreed with Rajakovic.
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Cleveland Cavaliers center Tristan Thompson, #13, dunks the ball against the Toronto Raptors during the second half at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto on Feb. 12, 2025.(John E. Sokolowski-Imagn Images)
“What he did at the end of the game was just a little bit disrespectful to the game of basketball, not just us,” Shead said. “We had a couple of choice words. We’re adults, we’ll move on from it.”
Cleveland star Donovan Mitchell was seen with his hands over his head in disbelief after Thompson’s dunk. Head coach Kenny Atkinson didn’t have many answers for it.
“I’m not sure what he was thinking,” Atkinson said. “Sometimes, though, you’re playing the game and you just have a reaction. I know with Tristan, there’s no bad intention there. I think just sometimes you’re playing and the goal of the game is to score. Unfortunate.”
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From left to right, Toronto Raptors’ Scottie Barnes, RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley sit on the bench during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in Toronto on Wednesday, Feb. 12, 2025.(Frank Gunn/The Canadian Press via AP)
Thompson, who is from Canada, had four points in four minutes. He is averaging 1.7 points and 3 rebounds per game in 28 games this season.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Last month, the United Nations (U.N.) released its “Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism,” partially in response to a “surge in antisemitic incidents targeting Jews and Jewish institutions in Europe, the United States of America and elsewhere.
Anne Bayefsky, the director of the Touro Institute on Human Rights and the Holocaust and the president of Human Rights Voices, told Fox News Digital that the Action Plan was a “phony exercise in futility,” that was “produced by what she claimed is the leading global purveyor of antisemitism…to pretend to do something to combat antisemitism.”
Developed by the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), the U.N.’s Action Plan emphasizes that “the ability to understand and identify antisemitism is crucial to global efforts to combat hatred and prejudice.” Despite the critical nature of understanding antisemitism, the plan wholly fails to define what constitutes antisemitism.
The Action Plan mentions, but does not adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism, which 45 member states have endorsed and which Bayefsky said “the vast majoriy of major Jewish organizations and institutions around the world accept,” because it “recognizes the connection with Zionism and Israel.”
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Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addresses the 78th session of the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, Sept. 22, 2023.(AP Photo/Richard Drew)
“The U.N. champions the idea that victims of hate and intolerance define their own experience of discrimination, isolation, and violence – except when it comes to Jews,” she said.
UNAOC Director Nihal Saad was asked by Fox News Digital why the Action Plan does not define antisemitism and whether lacking this definition would hinder efforts to identify and curtail anti-Jewish prejudice.
Saad said that “the Action Plan underlines the importance of understanding antisemitism rather than focusing on the definition of antisemitism and entering into a debate about it, which proved distracting from the real goal here, which is enhancing our responses to antisemitism.”
Referencing other issues where there is no consensus over “definition of the subject matter,” Saad explained that a lack of a “definitive agreement among member states on the definition of terrorism” had not hindered the development of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy, which Saad called “a unique global instrument to enhance national, regional and international efforts to counter terrorism.”
Edmund Fitton-Brown, a senior advisor to the Counter Extremism Project and a former U.N. Monitoring Team coordinator, told Fox News Digital that “the CT[counterterrorism] strategy is a mess.”
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Secretary-General Antonio Guterres delivers a statement at U.N. headquarters on the situation in the Middle East following the terrorist attack by Hamas on Israel.(Lev Radin/Pacific Press/LightRocket via Getty Images)
Though he said that some U.N. efforts to counter terrorism are effective, he said that given the lack of agreement over what constitutes terrorism, the U.N. particularly struggles with identifying groups like Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis as terrorists. “If something really dramatic happens, then often a group will find it is being accused of being a terrorist group,” Fitton-Brown said, noting how the U.N. condemned the Houthis in the aftermath of their 2022 attack on Abu Dhabi airport but failed to designate them as a terror group. “On Hezbollah, the U.N. has been hopelessly weak,” he explained.
He said that Hamas was “a good example of where the absence of a definition is problematic because you get something like the 10/7 attack…and the U.N. just completely failed in its response to that, and that is partly because of its failure to judge that a group that adopts terrorist tactics is a terrorist group.”
Bayefsky said that the U.N. Security Council “has never condemned Hamas for October 7th because they can’t agree on what counts as terrorism. That isn’t a success story. It’s a malevolent dereliction of duty.”
A view of the United Nations Headquarters building in New York City on July 16, 2024.(Jakub Porzycki/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
No Plan for Self-Monitoring
Among the Action Plan’s proposals are the implementation of training modules to help staff “recognize and understand antisemitism,” and the requirement that senior U.N. officials “continue to denounce antisemitic manifestations as and when they occur.”
Bayefsky questioned the implementation of these plans. “The U.N. says it is committed to educating U.N. staff about antisemitism without knowing what counts as antisemitism. Any actual educator gives that lesson plan an ‘F,’” she explained.
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U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories Francesca Albanese attends the Maghreb-Mashreq Social Forum in Tunis, Tunisia, on May 11, 2024.(Mohamed Mdalla/Anadolu via Getty Images)
From the highest levels, Bayefsky claimed that the world body is not currently standing up against anti-Jewish prejudice. Though U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the world on International Holocaust Remembrance Day that “we must condemn antisemitism wherever and whenever it appears,” Bayefsky said that “if the when and the who are inside the U.N., [Guterres is] not only sitting down, he goes mute.”
“Take the cases of U.N. Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese and U.N. Commission of Inquiry head Navi Pillay, both widely condemned for egregious antisemitic behavior,” Bayefsky claimed. “The Secretary-General claims their ‘independence’ leaves him impotent. Nothing prevents him from using his platform to speak out about right and wrong. He’s mute by choice.”
Fox News Digital asked Saad whether the Action Plan would allow for the U.N. to make critical comments when special rapporteurs make antisemitic remarks in the name of the institution. “Special Procedure Mandate Holders/Special Rapporteurs are independent human rights experts appointed by the U.N. Human Rights Council,” Saad responded. “They act in an individual capacity, and exercise their functions in accordance with their mandate, through a professional, impartial assessment of facts based on internationally recognized human rights standards. The views expressed by special procedures mandate holders remain those of the mandate holder and may not represent positions held [by] the wider United Nations system.”
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Fox News Digital asked Farhan Haq, spokesperson for Guterres, whether the Action Plan would allow him to comment on antisemitism emanating from the U.N., including from its special rapporteurs. “The Secretary-General has no authority over the independent experts who report to the Human Rights Council, and he does not comment on their activities or remarks,” Haq said. “But the UNAOC plan is designed to educate U.N. staff about antisemitism.”
Bayefsky said that the U.N. “can’t combat antisemitism without acknowledging its guilt and starting with ‘mea culpa.’”
Neither Navi Pillay nor Francesca Albanese responded to Fox News Digital questions concerning the allegations of antisemitism leveled against them.
Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., said the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services is “not a slam dunk,” as President Donald Trump’s nominee works to shore up support.
In an appearance on “Fox News Sunday,” Fetterman said he has met with Kennedy twice in his office and that whatever his decision ends up being on the HHS nominee, it will be “an informed view.”
“I’ve invested a lot of time to really understand his background and to learn more about the man,” Fetterman said, adding: “I approached with an open mind and I watched the hearing. And that’s how the process works.”
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Sen. John Fetterman during the 60th presidential inauguration in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 20, 2025.(Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Asked if he’s reached a decision on whether he’ll vote “yay” or “nay” for Kennedy, Fetterman said he has spoken to colleagues on both sides regarding the matter.
“It’s been challenging for sure. Absolutely. It’s certainly not a slam dunk for the nomination,” Fetterman told “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream.
“I’ve made an investment to really understand and talk to all of the nominees, and I treated everyone with respect and I took the time to listen, and that’s been part of my commitment,” he added.
Kennedy, a lifelong Democrat who switched his presidential campaign against Biden to run as an Independent before ultimately dropping from the race to back Trump, made it through back-to-back grillings by the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Health Committee on Thursday. He still faces crucial committee and full Senate confirmation votes in his mission to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., testifies during a Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions hearing on Capitol Hill, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025.(AP Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
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Most of the tough questions and sparring over his stances on vaccines, abortion, Medicaid and other issues came from Democrats on the two committees, but Thursday’s hearing ended with the top Republican on the Health panel saying he was “struggling” with Kennedy’s nomination.
“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., told the nominee.
The physician from Louisiana, who is a crucial vote and who has voiced concerns over Kennedy’s past stance on vaccines, asked whether Kennedy can “be trusted to support the best public health.” The senator told Kennedy, who seeks to lead key health agencies like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, that “you may be hearing from me over the weekend.”
Health and Human Services Secretary nominee Robert Kennedy Jr. walks to a meeting with Sen. John Fetterman on Capitol Hill on Jan. 9, 2025.(Jon Cherry/Getty Images)
Kennedy, whose outspoken views on the pharmaceutical and food industries have also sparked controversy, has said he aims to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.
A strong pro-life advocate, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., told “Fox News Sunday” that he is supporting Kennedy despite the nominee’s past comments saying he supported codifying Roe v. Wade and abortion “even if it’s full term.”
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“I am now OK to supporting RFK Jr. because I think during the course of the hearing he’s committed to a Republican pro-life agenda, President Trump’s pro-life agenda,” Graham said when asked about those specific past remarks from Kennedy. “So I will take him at his word. I’m comfortable with what he said on the pro-life issue. He has been radically pro-choice as a person. But I do believe that as secretary, he will implement a pro-life agenda that will be pushed by President Trump. I will be a yes, but I’ll also watch every move he makes.”
Fox News’ Paul Steinhauser contributed to this report.
Danielle Wallace is a breaking news and politics reporter at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to [email protected] and on X: @danimwallace.
