GOP Senator Kelly Loeffler, part owner of the WNBA’s Atlanta Dream, has been called upon to sell her stake in the team after she spoke out against the league’s support for Black Lives Matter, the Wall Street Journal reports.
What We Know:
- The WNBA will be dedicating its season to social-justice, displaying “Black Lives Matter” on the court and names of Black women killed by police on players’ uniforms. Loeffler described the move as politically divisive in a letter to the league opposing the plan.
- “This is an organization that seeks to destroy Amerillycan principles, and I had to draw the line,” Loeffler said on Fox News Wednesday night. “There’s no room in this country for racism, but this isn’t what the Black Lives Matter political organization is about. They want to abolish the police completely within five years.”
- WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert opposed Loeffler’s comments, stating, “Kelly’s views are not consistent with those of the WNBA and its players.” The WNBA players association called for her exit from the league in a tweet:
E-N-O-U-G-H!
O-U-T!https://t.co/XgIS2vRb2X
— WNBPA (@TheWNBPA) July 7, 2020
- Players have even compared her to former Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling who was banned from the NBA after a tape revealed him making racist comments. Sterling was also forced to sell the franchise.
- Senator Loeffler said she would refuse to sell her stake in the Dream, adding, “this is about every American’s right to speak out, to enjoy free speech…and not be canceled.”
- Loeffler was appointed to the Senate seat last year by Georgia’s Republican Governor Brian Kemp to replace retiring Senator Johnny Isakson. This has set up a special election that doesn’t involve a traditional party primary, rather, multiple candidates from each party run in a free-for-all until Election Day. If nobody gets 50% of the vote or more, the top two head to a runoff election in January.
- Her Republican rival, Rep. Doug Collins, a close Trump ally, has called upon her to “get out of the liberal agenda advocacy business and sell her interest in the Atlanta Dream”.
- Raphael Warnock, the Democratic front-runner in the race, is the senior pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta. He identifies closely with the BLM movement, stating, “the pain in the Black community is still real and demands to be heard, no matter how inconvenient for Kelly Loeffler”.
Democrats are targeting Loeffler’s seat as one of at least three they need to flip in order to take control of the Senate. That being said, her decision following pressures from all sides over her connection to the team could be critical to Republican hopes of maintaining the chamber.
