- Jared Kushner on Thursday ignored the importance of NBA players’ refusal to play playoff games the day before.
- In an interview with CNBC Thursday morning, the White House senior adviser downplayed the significance of the strike, which is not allowed under the NBA’s collective agreement and could lead to the termination of lucrative contracts.
- “Look, I think NBA players are very lucky to have the financial position where they are able to take a night off work without having to have the financial consequences for themselves,” said Kushner.
- Kushner avoided the question of whether the White House would support the protest against police violence and racism following Jacob Blake’s police shooting, but later told Politico that he would try to broker a dialogue between Trump and the superstar. of the Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James.
- “We just have to turn this conversation from emotional to constructive,” he said.
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In an interview with CNBC Thursday morning, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner dismissed the significance of NBA players’ protest against police violence in the wake of Jacob Blake’s shooting.
The morning after the players refused to play, postponing all of Wednesday’s playoff games, Kushner, who is also President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, avoided the question of whether the White House would support the players in their strike.
—CNBC (@CNBC) August 27, 2020
“Look, I think NBA players are very lucky to have the financial position where they are able to take a night off work without having to have the financial consequences for themselves,” said Kushner.
Kushner also paid a backhand compliment to the players, who may have their contracts terminated because they are not allowed to strike under the league’s collective agreement with the players’ union.
“Look, I think there’s a lot of activism with the NBA and I think they’ve put up a lot of slogans,” he said. “But I think what we need to do is transform it from a slogan to concrete actions that will solve the problem.”
WNBA players – who have been consistently open about social justice issues and support for the Black Lives Matter movement – have also forced their league to postpone their games on Wednesday night.
Another White House official – Vice President Mike Pence’s chief of staff Marc Short – called the strikes “absurd and foolish” during an interview on CNN.
—Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) August 27, 2020
According to Jake Sherman, Kushner told the authors of Politico’s “Playbook” newsletter that he would try to broker a dialogue between LeBron James and Trump.
—Jake Sherman (@JakeSherman) August 27, 2020
James, whose court dominance and cultural influence gave him significant leverage in encouraging players to end the season abruptly, was a vocal critic of the Trump administration.
Kushner ran out of time for his CNBC response by blaming the Democrats for “what’s going on in many of these cities,” adding that “we just need to turn this conversation from emotional to constructive.”
–Sopan Deb (@SopanDeb) August 27, 2020
