Raptors fan starts charity fundraiser to make amends with Kevin Durant – News

Hamzah Moin just wants to make it right.

He also wants Kevin Durant to know Toronto Raptors fans do feel badly about his serious injury.

“There was something in the air when he went down that didn’t feel right,” Moin said. “The fan reaction didn’t feel representative of true Raptors fans.”

So to make amends, the digital communications specialist in the medical industry has created a GoFundMe campaign with a $25,000 goal to raise money for the Golden State Warrior star’s charity helping youth in need.

“It’s not as much an apology as it is trying turn this into a positive,” said Moin.

In just 24 hours, more than 110 people have contributed raising $2,700 for the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation, and after appearing Wednesday on Newstalk 1010 with morning man John Moore, he said he “felt a momentum happening.”

No matter how much he raises, it’s a nice gesture.

It probably won’t get as much coverage in the United States and around the world as the people cheering, jeering, clapping and celebrating Durant’s Achilles injury, but it really should because the truth is no one around here was enjoying Durant being hurt.

The initial reaction was more an emotional one by a minority of fans during a fierce NBA Finals, followed by heartfelt applause for the legendary Durant, who really did give it the old college try despite not being healed up enough to do so.

The thing that made it go viral was that the Raptors own players like Kyle Lowry, Danny Green and Serge Ibaka all tried to quiet the crowd up.

The crowd responded appropriately and there was a lot of regret about that initial reaction.

Now the ones seen in a viral video cursing at Steph Curry’s mother at a hotel are not defendable. Nor are the two appeared to sucker-punch a man in a Warriors sweater. Police are investigating that incident. Both situations are pathetic.

The Raptors fans and the city have been sensational throughout this playoff run and these isolated incidents are just that.

That said, my comparison of the darkness of the Durant cheering moment to the mood when Tie Domi was suspended for a vicious, cheap-shot elbow on New Jersey Devil Scott Niedermayer didn’t go over well with some — including No. 28 Domi himself.

The former Maple Leaf tweeted such a comparison is “clueless.”

I was trying to convey the mood of the city at the time when something didn’t feel right, but to Domi’s point perhaps a better comparison would have been the Blue Jays beer can tosser, who like the guy who used vulgar language to describe Ayesha Curry, was charged.

The passion of this series has tempers flaring. The city can just taste a major championship.

But a digital expert is offering a good reminder to the world that even though we want to win, we here in Toronto and the GTA are good sports who don’t condone poor sportsmanship.

And Hamzah Moin wants Kevin Durant to know people here want the best for him as he recovers.

“He’s put his blood, sweat and tears in this beautiful sport. Let’s give back to something he’s passionate about – helping to enrich the lives of at-risk youth from low-income backgrounds through educational, athletic and social programs through the Kevin Durant Charity Foundation,” the GoFundMe says.