French Montana Donates $75,000 After NYC Cab Driver Is Assaulted in Post-Knicks Chaos

When a viral video captured a Manhattan crowd pulling a taxi driver from his cab and destroying the vehicle after the Knicks celebrated a Game 5 NBA Finals win, the moment felt less like sports euphoria and more like an act of collateral cruelty. By the following Wednesday, June 17, French Montana had helped turn that outrage into a concrete intervention: 59-year-old Algerian immigrant and father Noureddine Bitat was presented with a $75,000 check from the rapper, the New York Taxi Workers Alliance, and digital creator Zachery “MDMotivator” Dereniowski.

The viral moment and the response

Bitat had just finished a 13-hour shift when the post-game melee around Madison Square Garden went sideways. Viral footage showed a mob yanking him from his yellow cab, smashing the windshield, stomping on the roof and ultimately totaling the car. The scene was ugly in a way social feeds make impossible to ignore.

French Montana saw the clip and took to X with a direct call: “Somebody find him for me so we can help him get back on his feet.” A GoFundMe launched that same day; the campaign ultimately raised $75,000 and secured additional support covering six months of living expenses for Bitat.

Speaking to CBS Mornings

In an interview on CBS Mornings, French framed the gesture in personal terms, tracing it back to his own family’s immigrant hustle. “When I first came to America with my father, he was trying to open up his own businesses and him driving a taxi was one of them,” he said. “And I just saw a man try to feed his family. I asked him do he even watch the Knicks. He said, ‘I don’t know. I don’t even know what the Knicks is.'”

“So, he would just happen to be working around the place when things unfortunate happened to him, he don’t deserve it,” he continued. “So, we all came together to help him.”

French described Bitat as unsure whether he’ll ever get back behind the wheel. “He said he doesn’t want to drive anymore,” French added. “And I just told him I will personally assist him until he finds out what’s the next thing he will do.”

The presentation on June 17 stood as a reminder that viral moments can produce quick-moving aid as well as outrage. The $75,000 check and the pledge to cover months of living expenses are immediate relief; the longer question, which the interview touched on, is what happens next for Bitat—whether he returns to driving or is helped into a different line of work.

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