NBA players deciding not to take the court after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In the aftermath, White House senior adviser Jared Kushner dismissed the act and called it a night off without consequences." data-reactid="16">The Milwaukee Bucks were at the forefront of NBA players who decided not to take the field after Jacob Blake’s police shooting in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Afterward, White House Senior Adviser Jared Kushner rejected the act and called it a free evening with no consequences.
Bucks assistant coach Vin Baker said Tuesday that those remarks showed a “level of ignorance” on Kushner’s part as part of an interview with senior vice president Alex Lasry and the POLITIC Playbook.
Bucks’ assistant slams Kushner
Baker was invited by the POLITICO crew to comment on Kushner’s comments on CNBC last Thursday.
“There’s no sensitivity,” Baker told POLITICAL Playbook authors Anna Palmer and Jake Sherman. “Obviously I disagree with the comment. There is a level of ignorance there.
“It wasn’t about us allowing ourselves to take the night off. Once again, it was about seeing an egregious act, yet another egregious act, in our country and in our backyard and it hit us at a point where it should hit everyone. Not just the Milwaukee Bucks, not just our players, our staff and our organization, but everyone should have been angry at what we saw. It was a basketball game. We have decided not to play a game of basketball. “
Baker noted that neither the money nor the “stakes” – a game in the first-round playoff series – influenced their difficult decision to take sides.
Kushner calls NBA boycott “luxury”
Kushner, who is President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, called out the players who chose to boycott.
“Look, I think NBA players are very lucky to have the financial position where they are able to take a night off from work without having to have the financial consequences on themselves,” said Kushner. “So they have that luxury, which is great.”
He added:
“Look, I think there’s a lot of activism with the NBA, and I think they’ve put up a lot of slogans. But I think what we need to do is transform it from slogans and signals to concrete actions that will solve the problem. “
In a comment to POLITICO, Lasry said the comments were “a little ironic, coming from him” and pointed out that he was “no one who takes an evening off and then goes back to their hotel room like, ‘eh … I just didn’t want to play today.’ “
The White House criticizes assessments rather than acting
Milwaukee Bucks assistant coach Vin Baker called out Jared Kushner’s comments on the NBA protest. (AP Photo / Aaron Gash)
Kushner told CNBC he would contact Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James. Lasry said he had not heard from the White House and that there appears to be no cooperation for “actual action”.
NBA ratings mean people are less interested in the league." data-reactid="48">Instead of contacting the Bucks or discussing the matter, Trump instead took to Twitter Tuesday morning to push the narrative again that lower NBA ratings mean people are less interested in the championship.
People are tired of looking at the highly political elements @NBA. Basketball ratings are VERY down and won’t come back. I hope football and baseball are watching and learning because the same thing will happen to them. Stand up for our country and our flag !!!
– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) 1 September 2020
The Wisconsin legislature will not argue
last Monday and has not passed a law for more than 139 days.“data-reactid =” 52 “> Lasry also noted that the Wisconsin lawmaker” didn’t do anything for four months. “The state lawmaker didn’t even discuss the issue when he did. last Monday and has not passed a law for more than 139 days.
It was what the team was trying to draw attention to and said the boycott attracted people’s attention as the president tweeted about it.
“This was a statement,” Lasry told POLITICO. “And that was an act to say, ‘Hey, enough is enough, and if you guys don’t take it seriously, then we’re going to have to do something to bring it back and hopefully force people to act.”
The Athletes for Impact group also signed a letter on Monday urging the state to “ensure that justice served the officers who shot Jacob Blake” and police reform legislation.
