President Joe Biden signaled support for MLB players looking to move the league’s All-Star game out of Atlanta after Georgia passed a voting reform bill.
“I think today’s professional athletes are acting incredibly responsibly,” Biden said of players who support moving the game. “I would strongly support them doing that. People look to them. They’re leaders.”
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Biden has been extremely critical of Georgia’s new election reform law, calling it and similar efforts “Jim Crow on steroids” during his first press conference last week.
“This is all about keeping working folks and ordinary folks that I grew up with from being able to vote,” Biden said.
STRIPPING GEORGIA OF THE MLB ALL-STAR GAME WOULD BE PARTISAN BLACKMAIL
MLB players union President Tony Clark signaled openness to calls to move the All-Star game last week, saying that “Players are very much aware” of the Georgia bill.
“As it relates to the All-Star Game, we have not had a conversation with the league on that issue. If there is an opportunity to, we would look forward to having that conversation,” Clark said.
Clark’s comments came after calls for the MLB to move the game in response to the law, with one Los Angeles Times column referring to the legislation as “Orwellian.”
“If Georgia persists in pursuing laws that will make it harder to vote, and disproportionately so in Black communities, MLB should move the 2021 All-Star game out of Atlanta,” Bill Shaikin argued.
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Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp signed the legislation into law last week, writing an op-ed of his own for Fox News that defended the legislation.
“As governor, I refuse to back down from this fight because the integrity of our elections is the foundation of who we are as Georgians and Americans,” Kemp wrote. “In Georgia, we will always protect the sanctity of the ballot box and keep working to restore complete confidence in our democracy.”
