It was Thursday, June 16^th in Cleveland, Ohio, the location for game six of the NBA Finals. The score was 99-87 and the Golden State Warriors, who this year completed the best regular season record in league history, were blowing their chance to win a back-to-back NBA Title for the second game in a row. The arena was packed and people all across the country were tuning in to watch the biggest game of the season so far. There were a little under four and a half minutes left of the game, when something happened that no one, at home or in the arena, saw coming.

Warriors’ point guard Stephen Curry, who is admired around the league for his coolness and humility, was called for his sixth foul, meaning he had fouled out at such a critical point in the biggest game of the season (perhaps even his career) up until that point. That isn’t the surprising part, though. The man who is known for typically keeping his composure… well, lost his composure. He threw his mouthpiece, which accidentally hit a spectator (who just so happened to be the son of the Cleveland Cavaliers minority owner), yelled at the referee who called the foul and was consequently, for the first time in his career, ejected from the game.

He left the arena listening to boos and the crowd singing out “Hey, hey, hey, goodbye,” and there were some unpleasant gestures being thrown his way as well. As you can imagine, social media exploded. Steph became a trend on Twitter, and many people were criticizing his actions, calling him a “baby” who threw a “tantrum”, a “sore loser”, “immature”, a “punk”, and more adjectives that you probably wouldn’t feel comfortable reading on here.

To be honest, the final foul call and some of the others were questionable, and Steph became caught up in the moment in one of the most significant fourth quarter deficits of his career. In a matter of a few minutes, Steph Curry went from one of the most loved and respected players in the NBA, who many hail as the greatest shooter in the history of the league, to someone considered an arrogant baby who couldn’t handle the loss. Curry apologized to the fan who was hit by his mouth guard instantly and was calm as he left, showing that he lost his cool for a minute after a questionable call in a game of questionable calls forced him out of the game when his team needed him the most.

The fact that all of a sudden, Curry became a bad guy because of one mistake is a problem, but it’s unfortunately a pretty common problem. So, with is in mind, I want to tackle this issue that has become a pet peeve of mine, and that is this: Society holds celebrities to an impossible standard of perfection.

As a fan of Golden State and a huge supporter of Steph Curry, it was very difficult for me to hold back from replying to some of the tweets I saw that night and over the couple of days that followed. However, there were many tweets in support of Steph that brought to my attention the issue I presented you with. Musician Derek Minor (@thederekminor) pretty much summed up what I just told you in a great way. He said: "Respect to Steph. I'd be emotional too after today's game. A lot of calls didn't go their way. He's a classy dude." and "People have no grace on famous people. Steph go from being St. Curry to the Lucifer after losing his temper once and then apologizing. Smh"

Look, I’m a pretty heated sports fan. I’m known to lose my voice and throw things when my team is on. I can only imagine how intense I would be if I was actually playing. Steph is always a class act, and one mistake, a human mistake, turns people against him. He isn’t the only victim of this though. It happens all the time. It’s how TMZ makes their money. People forget that celebrities are human too and are allowed to mess up sometimes.

Celebrities lives are put under a microscope. Everything they do, everywhere they eat dinner, every vacation they take, and every decision they make is amplified. This means the good and the bad. It’s happened to some of the most respected icons of our time. And it simply isn’t fair.

The solution to this isn’t very complex. In fact, I think the biblical principle found in Matthew John 8:7 applies to this situation as well. The religious leaders in the town are preparing to stone a woman for her sin when Jesus steps in and says “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Busted. The leaders put down their stones and left, defeated. They were guilty too, so what right did they have to judge her?

Put yourself in the shoes of the celebrity. Do you think they enjoy not being able to take a trip to the beach or the store or go out to lunch without dozens of reporters filming their every move? Of course not, and you wouldn’t either. Knowing what they did went viral should be enough punishment as it is without having millions of people tweeting insults at them.

Maybe next time you judge the latest pop star for whatever scandal the tabloids are covering or get ready to throw your stones at Steph, you could remember that principle. You’ve made mistakes. Just because your mistakes haven’t been caught on camera and circulated YouTube doesn’t make them any more okay. Drop your stones, log off Twitter, and go enjoy some basketball.