Trump doesn’t watch the NBA. In fact, when asked what the NBA stands for, Trump said, “Apparently not the anthem” and then punched Jared Kushner in the round balls.
But seriously folks, Trump, who is the president of people with a nice set shot, has a whole lot of thoughts on basketball players kneeling during the national anthem because he knows it excites his base when he says something.
Since the NBA restart, the majority of players and coaches have been locking arms and taking a knee during the playing of the national anthem to protest the over-policing of communities of color.
“When I see people kneeling during the playing and disrespecting our flag and national anthem, what I do personally is turn off the game,” Trump said Wednesday morning in a phone interview with Fox & Friends, according to TMZ Sports.
“I think it’s disgraceful. We work with [the NBA], we worked with them very hard trying to get open. I was pushing for them to get open. Then I see everybody kneeling during the anthem. That’s not acceptable to me. When I see them kneeling during the game, I just turn off the game. I have no interest in the game. Let me tell you this, plenty of other people out there, too.”
Trump also claimed, without proof, that NBA ratings are way down because Trump only gets his rating numbers from what white people are watching.
According to YardBarker.com, “ratings are up 14 percent from when the season was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.”
This isn’t the first time that Trump has butted his orange-dusted nose in sports business. Miami Heat forward Meyers Leonard’s president famously called NFL players’ moms “bitches” for kneeling during the national anthem in 2016.
Since the season checked ball, only four people — two players (one being Leonard) and two coaches — have stood for the national anthem, YardBarker.com reports.
Players have been wearing social justice buzzwords on the backs of their jersey, but as one person noted on Twitter, I haven’t seen one player with the jersey name “Stimulus Check.”