After players on the WNBA team co-owned by Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler were seen wearing shirts in support of her Senate challenger this week, Loeffler slammed the league for caring more about politics than basketball.
Ha. WNBA player wearing a Vote Warnock shirt. Rev Warnock is running for senate in Georgia against WNBA franchise owner, proud bigot and shady financier Kelly Loeffler @SenatorLoeffler pic.twitter.com/hFDnfS3Let
— Dave Zirin (@EdgeofSports) August 4, 2020
“This is just more proof that the out-of-control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them. It’s clear that the league is more concerned with playing politics than basketball,” Loeffler said in a statement. “It’s sad to see that there’s more interest in tearing our country apart than in solutions that bring us together. I’ll continue to defend American values and our flag, because this is not a game – it’s the future of our country.”
Players on the Atlanta Dream, which Loeffler co-owns, posted pictures of themselves wearing shirts supporting Raphael Warnock, a Democrat running for Loeffler’s seat, encouraging Georgians to vote against Loeffler:
We are @wnba players, but like the late, great John Lewis said, we are also ordinary people with extraordinary vision. @ReverendWarnock has spent his life fighting for the people and we need him in Washington. Join the movement for a better Georgia at https://t.co/hC8iF9urak pic.twitter.com/mvN5e9m4oO
— Elizabeth Williams (@E_Williams_1) August 4, 2020
Other WNBA teams, including the Phoenix Mercury and the Chicago Sky, wore “Vote Warnock” shirts as well.
Energyyyy@_shatori | #4TheValley pic.twitter.com/tqXPQS3YPW
— Phoenix Mercury (@PhoenixMercury) August 4, 2020
Don’t boo…VOTE ?
Register to vote at https://t.co/zXnPqmFZQ7 #Vote2020 pic.twitter.com/4yMmEqgXMS
— Chicago Sky (@chicagosky) August 4, 2020
This isn’t the first scuffle Loeffler has had with her team.
Last month, she objected to the WNBA’s plans to honor the Black Lives Matter movement, so the Atlanta Dream’s players issued a statement in which they asserted their right to support BLM.
Loeffler, however, refused to back down and warned the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream that “to subscribe to a particular political agenda,” such as BLM, “undermines the potential of the sport and sends a message of exclusion.”
