Dallas Mavericks' Tim Thomas Reportedly Calls Denny's Customers "Faggots", Sets Off Brawl

The Dallas Morning News is reporting that Dallas Maverick's forward Tim Thomas set off a fight at a Dallas area Denny's by allegedly calling several restaurant patrons "faggots." When Thomas later made derogatory remark about gay people, 29-year-old Damien Pettie responded by saying "What the hell did you say?"

The DMN goes on to report Pettie saying: 

“As Tim continued to instigate the situation, one of the guys hit me in my mouth. Another one of his friends hit me. They pushed me down onto a table.”

Pettie says he picked up a chair to defend himself. One of the men who hit him in the face then picked up a chair and threw it, he said. Pettie said he caught the chair, but not before it Kissick.

“It was juvenile,” said Pettie.

“It was like a bunch of high school kids. It reminded me of high school. The popular kids picking on lower classmen. That’s how they acted. (Thomas) acted like a big bully kid in high school. "

When the restaurant manager called police, Thomas and his companions left before police arrived. An appearance by Thomas for today was canceled.

Pettie noted that while he himself is not gay, several of the friends with him are lesbians. 

Donnie Nelson, the Mavericks' general manager and president of basketball operations claimed the media accounts of the fight were "way, way overblown." Nelson also claimed Thomas left as soon as the confrontation began to get out of control.

And while Nelson denied Thomas threw a chair, he had nothing to say about the use of the anti-gay slurs.