Arcade Fire‘s Win Butler won the MVP award at last night’s (February 13) NBA All-Star celebrity game.
During the match Team Canada, coached by Drake, faced off against Team USA, who were coached by Kevin Hart. Canada were the eventual winners and Butler, playing for the winning time for a second year in a row, scored 15 points and gained 14 rebounds.
Butler made a speech as he picked up his MVP trophy at the end of the game, but, as Pitchfork reports, was cut off as he began trying to talk about politics.
Win receives his MVP. It was all good here with ESPN. It was all 'respect to @Drake' and stuff. pic.twitter.com/LSKMxlWB7I
— Arcade Fire Tube (@ArcadeFireTube) February 13, 2016
“Thank you very much. I been, I’ve lived in the great city of Montreal for 15 years. I represented Montreal. If you guys want to fast track my Canadian citizenship, hopefully, this’ll help my permanent residence,” he said. “I just want to say that I’m retiring as a celebrity right now, so I will not be eligible for the celebrity game next year. I’m retiring as a celebrity, so I brought this home for Canada. Respect to Drake, respect to Team Canada. Alright.”
He continued: “I just wanna say it’s an election year in the US, and the US has a lot it can learn from Canada – healthcare, taking care of people.”
…but then.. "We're talking about celebrity stuff, not politics". DANGEROUS! You entered a hazardous zone, Win. pic.twitter.com/iz2vhxxGIV
— Arcade Fire Tube (@ArcadeFireTube) February 13, 2016
An ESPN presenter then interrupted him, saying “We’re talking about celebrity stuff, not politics.”
Butler also thanked his “trainer” Spike Jonze in an Instagram post, saying he “couldn’t have done it without” him.