Photo courtesy of Rob Fischer

The Beale Street Flippers are a regular touring act in the NBA, but the beloved Memphis group’s halftime performance at Game 6 of the Grizzlies/Clippers playoff series in Los Angeles has some fans upset.  Once word leaked  on Twitter and MSL that the Flippers wore red Clippers “Lob City” shirts during their performance, an outpouring of negative reaction from Grizz Nation started to spread fast on various social media.

The Beale Street Flippers responded to the criticism with a post on the MemphiSport Facebook page:

Just to explain a little: Yes, the Clippers paid a lot for us to come to L.A. and perform for halftime. That’s what we do — all over the NBA, college, corporate events, etc. We do perform a lot for the Grizzlies, but the Grizz don’t have an exclusive on our group. At almost every game, we flip in the home team’s shirts. Grizzlies, Clippers, Lakers, Hawks, Magic, OKC, Pacers, Mavericks, Ole Miss, Auburn, UT, UConn — we’ve got drawers full of t-shirts from every team in the NBA and most colleges. We are professional entertainers, and we entertain to the best of our ability for the people who hire us. Yes, of course we are Grizz fans in our personal lives; yes, it was a little awkward to be in LA last night; and yes, we were surprised that the Clippers wanted to book us. But they did, we gave them a great show, we got paid well, and now we’re back in Memphis and ready for the Grizz to move to round 2 of the playoffs.

We aren’t celebrities who can pick and choose whom to endorse. We’re just hard-working street kids who have developed a skill and created an act that people want for entertainment… As for what happens at tomorrow’s game, we’ve had some fun discussions with our friends at the Grizzlies, and all we’re allowed to say is “Stay tuned….”