Conservative radio show host Mark Levin unloaded on the National Basketball Association following reports that the phrase “Black Lives Matter” will be painted on the sidelines of courts when games resume.
ESPN reported this week that the NBA plans to paint “Black Lives Matter” on courts in Orlando, Florida, at the Walt Disney World Resort when games resume in late July.
Levin posted to Facebook on Tuesday, claiming that the Black Lives Matter movement is an “anti-Semitic, hate-America group” and calling NBA employees “hypocrites and frauds.”
“So, a violent Marxist-anarchist, anti-Semitic, hate-America group will have its name painted on sides of the NBA basketball courts. And the multi-millionaire players and billionaire owners — hypocrites and frauds — expect the rest of us to pay for this?” he wrote.
“I certainly hope we still have the gumption to tell these pathetic, phony revolutionaries, who milk this country for everything it’s worthwhile condemning it, go to hell and we, the people, stop subsidizing their extravagant lifestyles,” he added.
The National Basketball Players Association is also looking to work with the league to allow players to wear social justice messaging on the backs of their jerseys instead of their last names.
“We’re just trying to continue to shed light on the different social justice issues that guys around our league continue to talk about day in and day out,” Oklahoma City Thunder guard and NBPA President Chris Paul said. “People are saying that social justice will be off of everybody’s mind in Orlando. With these jerseys, it doesn’t go away.”
The Black Lives Matter movement has regained momentum following George Floyd’s death, and many sports leagues and players have answered calls to support its activism. The San Francisco 49ers raised a Black Lives Matter flag next to the American flag outside Levi’s Stadium, and NASCAR banned all Confederate flags from sporting events. Players on National Women’s Soccer League teams also knelt for the national anthem and wore Black Lives Matter attire to show support for the movement.
