Conservative politics and professional sports leagues have long been intertwined like bedfellows. However, this attitude has changed since the Trump era. According to an LA Times/SurveyMonkey poll earlier this year, more Republicans despise the NFL than ever before. Though they see it on Sundays, their shifting opinions stem from the assumption that it’s Roger Goodell and the owners do too much for its African-American players, the survey says.
The era of player empowerment intertwined with activism has seen the GOP use this declining perception of “athletes” to manifest a minority villain for their bigoted base. Part of the GOP’s strategy for sowing division is to create an “other” for its constituents to train on. The LGBTQ community, women and African Americans seem to be their new targets. Remarkably, white male athletes are never at the top of that target list — unless they’re the NBA commissioner asked by insurgent Lieutenant/Senator Josh Hawley to testify before Congress about it The NBA’s deal with China.
The GOP’s mantra for NBA players has always been “shut up and dribble.” Meanwhile, Enes Kanter is Fox News’ latest mouthpiece on what the NBA is like unabashedly capitalist for turning a blind eye to human rights abuses in China. The modern Republican Party will not really make an effort to help marginalized groups at home, but is happy to tell black athletes that they are not doing enough for the global community and that they should be held accountable for apathy.
On Wednesday, Tennessee Junior Senator Marsha Blackburn criticized the NBA’s announcement that it would host a preseason matchup in the United Arab Emirates ahead of the 2022-23 season. Blackburn’s displeasure with the NBA hosting a competition in the United Arab Emirates relates to the country’s archaic laws against homosexuality.
The NBA doing business with a regime that punishes homosexuality looks bad, but Blackburn is someone who has fought against same-sex couples’ right to marry. Throwing rocks from glass houses is a GOP specialty. That the NBA’s UAE is emerging as the conservative community’s latest obsession is ironic, given its laissez-faire attitude toward companies doing business with totalitarian regimes and its own peers siding with Russia before things became politically awkward. This energy is reserved only for the NFL and NBA haughty negroes. So don’t expect the same backlash for the UFC and WWE, both of which have hosted events in Saudi Arabia where same-sex activity is illegal and women can’t get passports or travel outside the country without a man’s consent. or marry without the same. The closest I could find was a piece by the American Conservatives that supports them WWE in Saudi Arabiaand a dozen pieces criticizing the NBA for its relationship with China.
Where are their fiery jingoistic views on PGA stars taking part in a Saudi golf tour that could challenge the American-run PGA Tour? Daryl Morey’s tweet about Chinese intervention in Hong Kong and comments by Golden State minority owner Chamath Palihapitiya about the NBA’s apathy towards Uyghur Muslims sparked anger from Republican senators. Curiously, they could not muster the same outrage at the mistreatment of black people in this country that was highlighted by the police killing of George Floyd. However, the irony of two spineless politicians who tolerated Trump, who became best buddies with every authoritarian ruler he met and called the NBA to kowtow, is ironic.
Sportswear is a plague on this earth, but it’s galling even for some of America’s most powerful political figures to decide that they will selectively target billion-dollar corporations for it, as a baton against the black athletes who benefit from it is despicable . The GOP’s obsession with diving into the NBA is only going to intensify, and based on their fixation, they’ll be using the NBA as a punching bag to excite their starved base through the midterms and beyond.
As Blackburn and her ilk weep crocodile tears over the NBA’s dealings in the United Arab Emirates, they are attempting to pass “Don’t Say Gay” laws in their own states and are urging the Supreme Court to rule Obergefell v. Hodges repeals same-sex marriage legalized nationwide. Disingenuous bad actors should have their feigned attempts at self-righteousness to stir up anger against black athletes for political gain should their shit be second-tier.
