Despite having a number notable career accomplishments like winning an NBA championship, Metta World Peace's career will forever be remembered for his role in the Malice at the Palace brawl in 2004. The incident was a black mark on the league and on Peace's career as well but he has made strides to use it as a learning experience and has even become friends with the fan that sparked the brawl by throwing a cup at him.
From a 2012 ESPN radio interview with World Peace and the fan, John Green:
How did you become friends with John Green, the guy who threw the cup at you that ended up instigating the brawl?:
"What happened was, when I got into the brawl in Detroit, I was transitioning into a different type of person, that person that I've become, but that game had so many emotions involved. So I get suspended and I think the whole world hates me and I'm walking around not wanting to talk to anybody. Then my psychologist, I was talking to her about a few things and I said, 'You know what, I'm going to reach out to John.' So I went on Twitter and said, 'Anybody that can find me this guy's number or information, I'll take you out to lunch.' ... Somebody from Chicago found his number ... so I called him and his wife picks up the phone. And I said, 'Hey, this is Ron Artest. I'd like to speak to John.' ... Then I spoke to John and he answered the phone like he knew I was going to call."
...
John, how weird is it now that you and Ron are friends?:
"Ron's a good guy. And you wanna know what? I like to think the same thing about myself. Yes, I've made bad choices and maybe Ron has, too, but I think he and I are very similar. We're very passionate people, but we admit when we're wrong, too. ... Right away, because Ron's so soft-spoken, I thought it was Michael Jackson or something. ... We just started talking and we hit it off. He apologized and I did. ... It came from him and it takes a lot to do something like that."
Amazingly enough, this is an actual true friendship between World Peace and Green. In fact, they are such good friends that according to Stephen Jackson, a teammate of World Peace on that 2004 Pacers team, they both talk to each on a daily basis.
"The guy that actually started the whole thing, that threw the beer, him and Ron speak daily. They keep in touch," Jackson said on ESPN's The Jump. "They're real good friends...I don't know how they're still friends, but it's amazing. Ron's that type of guy, though. You never know what to expect from Ron."
The Malice in the Palace is a rather unique way for a friendship to start but it seems to have created an positive and friendly bond between World Peace and Green.
