08/28/2020 - 7:50
- Clarín.com
- sports
President Donald Trump criticized the NBA in recent hours, noting that it became "a political organization" after basketball players boycotted playoff games to speak out against racism and police abuse.
Various White House advisers had already suggested that the protests were not constructive and rather constituted a display of hypocrisy, taking into account the relative silence that the NBA kept on human rights violations in China, where the league is extremely popular. basketball team in the United States.
Trump had already said days ago in a radio interview that NBA players were "very unpleasant" and "very foolish" for kneeling during the performance of the national anthem to protest against social injustices.
LeBron James and Kawhi Leonard, the two great figures who pushed for the abrupt end of the season to protest against racial violence. Photo: AP
The Milwaukee Bucks launched the boycott on Wednesday afternoon when their players refused to leave the locker room to play the Orlando Magic game. Athletes are demanding that lawmakers act swiftly to combat police brutality and racial injustice.
After all Wednesday's games were suspended, the NBA also announced the postponement of Thursday's games. However, the league hoped to resume activity on Friday or Saturday .
"They have become like a political organization and that is not good," Trump said in reference to the NBA, speaking to the press on Thursday. The US president also assured that the television audience levels of the competition had fallen compared to previous seasons.
"I do not think that this is good for the sport or for the country," warned the president.
Trump, already launched in search of re-election, focused his campaign on the restoration of "law and order" during a summer of protests after the death of George Floyd, an African American who was suffocated by a police officer after pressing his neck with a off his knees in late May.
The outcry from the basketball players, which spread to other professional leagues, came after Jacob Blake, a black citizen, was seriously shot by police in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
Source: AP
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