GREENBURGH, N.Y. (AP) — Smile, Mrs. Brown. Ben Stiller is ready for that picture.
The actor made the offer on social media Thursday, after New York Knicks coach Mike Brown said earlier in the day that his wife was afraid to ask a few days before.
Stiller, one of the Knicks’ longtime celebrity fans, was on the court in Cleveland on Monday when the Knicks celebrated clinching their first NBA Finals trip since 1999. Brown’s wife, Ro, noticed and alerted the coach.
“I don’t think I’ve ever met Ben, but he was over there and she was like, ‘Ben’s over there!” Brown said. “I was like, ’Well, get a picture. I’m sure he’ll take a picture with you.’”
Her response, according to Brown: “No, I can’t do it!”
Well, now she can.
Stiller saw a video of Brown’s remarks after they practiced for the first time since that night, and made an offer in a posting on X.
“I am available for any picture any time with any member of Mike Brown’s immediate or extended family or friends,” Stiller wrote. “This man has taken us to the Finals. In his first year here.”
Brown said he has gotten to know award-winning director Spike Lee, perhaps the Knicks’ most famous superfan of all, a little bit. The celebrity fan he has gotten to know best is Fat Joe, who was also in Cleveland — and has posed for a photo with a member of his family.
“He used to kill me, man, about my shoes,” Brown said. “He tried to tell me I need to get some Nikes because they got more cushion and all this stuff. And he took a picture with my stepson and my stepson was fired up, and I’ve always been a fan of his.”
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