Hornets co-owner rips NBA, pols for All-Star exit in wild email
The NBA on Thursday followed through on multiple previous threats by announcing it was pulling the 2017 NBA All-Star Game out of Charlotte in opposition to House Bill 2, a law passed in March by North Carolina legislators and signed by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory that reversed a Charlotte city ordinance expanding rights and protections for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. The Charlotte Hornets, who were in line to play host to next winter’s midseason event, and Michael Jordan, the franchise’s chairman and majority owner who had previously made it clear that the organization is “opposed to discrimination in any form,” issued a statement saying that they “understand the NBA’s decision and the challenges around holding the NBA All-Star Game in Charlotte this season,” and “are disappointed we were unable to” keep the game in town.
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Evidently, not everybody associated with the Hornets feels quite so understanding. Less than 10 minutes after the NBA announced its decision, co-owner Felix Sabates — a Cuban-born entrepreneur who helped found the original Hornets franchise in 1987, and who also holds an ownership stake in Chip Ganassi Racing of the NASCAR and IndyCar series — replied to an email from team president and chief operating officer Fred Whitfield informing members of the Hornets’ ownership group of the league’s decision.
In his wild and erratic reply, obtained by Nick Ochsner of Charlotte CBS affiliate WBTV, Sabates takes the NBA to task for overreaching “on their short sighted decision,” chastises Commissioner Adam Silver for not waiting until “a court would decide whether the HB2 was right or wrong,” and blames the Charlotte City Council — which in February passed the city ordinance preventing businesses from discriminating against LGBT customers that prompted McCrory and other lawmakers to push HB2 through the state Legislature in March — for the loss of the All-Star Game, among other things.
You can read Sabates’ full email here; some highlights follow. (All spelling and grammatical errors are reproduced as they appear in Sabates’ email.)
there are 21 other states on the USA with similar laws, does this mean that every state with similar laws would have the NBA take away franchises and move them to state with more favorable laws to the Lesbian Gay community?
McCrory made that same point in his Thursday statement responding to the NBA’s decision to depart. North Carolina state Rep. Graig Meyer offered the following counterargument to that point in a chat with Sean Gentille of Sporting News back in April:
“House Bill 2 actively repealed existing protections for LGBT people. Those other states have never put the protection in place. This bill repealed any local protections for those people. and it’s the first time since the Civil Rights Era that I can think of where a state has taken away public accommodations and protections for any group of people.
“This was an actively discriminatory bill. This is not the same as states that haven’t added that protection yet.”
Back to Sabates’ email:
It is shame that less then one tenth of our country is forcing the league to have such a knee jerk reaction and to deprive the citizen of our great state of having a great showcase even as the NBA All Star Game.
Shame on those responsible for such a short sighted decision to take the NBA All Star away from Charlotte I always thought this was country that ALL peoples not just a few can determine our future. […]
what is wrong with a person using a bathroom provided for the sex the were born with, if you want to change your gender so be it, we are a free country, but don’t force 8 years old children to be exposed to having to share bathroom facilities with people that don’t share the organs they were Bourne with, this is plain wrong, this could cause irreparable damages to a children’s that don’t understand why they have to see what God did not mean for them to witness, we have some very confused business as well as political humans that frankly have made this a political issue rather then moral issues, SHAME ON THEM.
[…] shame on the league for getting intimidated by Corp that don’t really care about Gays and Lesbian other than beating their own empty chests saying how much they care for all, when in fact all they care is about their own hides and share holders equity and their yearly bonuses.
The National Center for Transgender Equality, the Human Rights Campaign, the American Civil Liberties Union and numerous experts from across the country all say that there is no statistical evidence of the kind of sexual violence perpetrated by male perverts and pedophiles disguised as women to justify laws like HB2.
The Hornets declined to comment on Sabates’ email to Deadspin earlier Friday.
McCrory, still smarting from the Crying Jordan-ing he received in the aftermath of the NBA’s exit, took to Charlotte’s airwaves on Friday morning to express his displeasure with Silver’s call, according to Steve Harrison of the Charlotte Observer:
“I’m disappointed,” McCrory said while speaking on WFAE’s Charlotte Talks radio program Friday morning. “I strongly disagree with their decision. To put it bluntly it’s total P.C. BS. It’s an insult to our city and an insult to our state.” […]
McCrory said he believes the NBA is practicing “selective outrage” over the issue. He also said he disagreed with the criticism of HB2 by the state’s leading college basketball coaches, including Mike Krzyzewski, who said the legislation is “embarrassing.”
McCrory then took his critique a step further, according to Zach Ford of ThinkProgress:
It’s almost, Mike, an Orwellian type of situation in our country in which the thought police are purging anyone who disagrees with their particular political opinion. And in this case, the NBA is purging our state and our city based upon our political democratic process and denying their services based upon our political opinion, which I think is Orwellian.
Our thoughts are with Gov. McCrory and his associates as they struggle with an entity outside their control denying them services based upon their political opinion.
Hat-tip to Y! colleague Nick Bromberg of From the Marbles.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
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