Fueling more controversy of the National Anthem at sports venues, 61-year-old billionaire NBA Dallas Maverick’s owner and ABC’s “Shark Tank” host Mark Cuban told his media and political critics to take a flying leap. Cuban sides with the NBA’s 80% black athletes whether from the U.S. or other countries. Started by 32-year-old former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick in 2016, Kaepernick kneeled down on one knee to protest police brutality and racism in the United States. Kaepernick’s political protest in NFL games drove him into early retirement, prompting 74-year-old President Donald Trump to tweet out angry reactions toward NFL players joining Kaepernick in using the National Anthem to air grievances. Trump put Kaepernick;s kneeling during the Anthem as showing disrespect for flag
Cuban’s of the view that that train, blaming athletes for Anthem protests, has long left the station, prompting a false narrative that athletes protesting during the National Anthem disrespected the U.S. flag. “Complain to their boss,” Cuban told criticis, like Dallas radio talk show hos Mark Davis. “But the minute one player kneels during the Anthem I am OUT,” Davis tweeted Cuban tweeted back, “Bye,” meaning that the Anthem deal was old news. Cuban sees any athlete as expressing their Free Speech rights., something won’t change because talk show hosts or politicians jump-up-and-down. Davis gets no sympathy from Cuban who’s running a business with 80% of his employees African American athletes showing no signs of letting up. More that ever, African American athletes, before -and-after George Floyd’s murder, feel inclined to protest.
Cuban sees the handwriting on the walls that puts ownership, regardless of personal opinions about the Anthem, in an untenable position, especially when negotiating contracts and running a sports franchise. Since the NBA is 80% black, it’s futile to let the Anthem issue interfere with normal business operations, something that talk show hosts and politicians don’t get. Whatever the Anthem meant in past generations, it no longer means the same today, where African American athletes feel inclined to speak out on racism and police brutality. When Cuban tells Davis “Bye,” he’s saying that he’s got a business to run not engage in the endless arguments that go on in the media and politics. Kaepernick opened up a can of worms, talking about uncomfortable subjects like racism and police brutality.
Cuban told the “National Anthem” police to get over it, namely, letting things play out whatever works for players. Cuban sees the Anthem protests as not disrespectful to the flag, only a way that professional athletes can express their First Amendment rights on topics important to them. With the national dialogue since Floyd’s May 25 murder, many citizens of color have complained about the fundamental unfairness of “while privilege,” where whites get more opportunities to succeed than blacks or other persons of color. While black professional athletes are certainly in a different economic class than ordinary citizens struggling to make ends meet. Professional athletes are in a different league than ordinary citizens struggling during the Covid-19 crisis and economy recession to keep their heads above water.
Cuban set the record straight about the righteous ones getting offended by black athletes jointing nationwide protests of racial injustice. “The National Anthem Police in this country are out of control.. If you want to complain to your boss and ask why they don’t play the National Anthem every day before you start work,” Cuban tweeted July 20. Cuban equates everyday employment from the spectacle of professional sports where pageantry plays a part in the theatrics. Cuban doesn’t think that professional sports are any different than any other business, where nothing is played to start the day. When it comes to age-old traditions, recent street protests led by Black Lives Matter and other roups certainly question almost everything about American traditions Kaepernick said recently that the Fourth-of-July wasn’t his holiday.
American consumers will ultimately decide what to do with age-old traditions like playing the National Anthem, or, in Washington, reciting the Pledge of Allegiance before officials business begins. Cuban looks at the issue purely from a businessman’s point-of-view, thinking there’s no reason to make waves with his employees. Cuban admitted he’d join his players in kneeling during the Anthem if that’s what they want to do, showing there’s nothing sacred to him about age-old traditions. “Have some balls for once,” said Sen. Tech Cruz (R-Tx.) tweeted Cuban. Cruz, who’s father immigrated from Communist Cuba, knows the meaning of the Anthem and flag attached to it. Cruz questioned why Maverick’s general manage Daryl Morey backed Hong Kong protesters in a tweet, prompting China to cancel the NBA’s TV contracts in China.
