"Downcourt Racist Hypocrisy": Senator Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) Says to Listen to Athletes After Repeatedly Attacking WNBA Team She Co-Owns for Supporting Black Lives Matters

August 11th 2020

Vice President Mike Pence attends the ceremonial swearing in of U.S. Senator Kelly Loeffler Monday, Jan. 6, 2020 (The White House)

By Dan Desai Martin

Sen. Kelly Loeffler (R-GA) demanded colleges and universities listen to the voices of athletes about health policy just six days after she criticized WNBA players for speaking out on political issues.

“College universities and athletic conferences need to put politics aside and come together to find a way to safely play college football this season,” Loeffler tweeted on Monday. “The players want to play. Shouldn’t their voices be heard too?”

College football conferences are currently making decisions about whether to play games in the middle of the pandemic. When professional baseball resumed earlier this year, multiple coronavirus outbreaks hampered the ability of some teams to participate in an already shortened season.

Sources told ESPN that the commissioners of the biggest college football conferences met Sunday to discuss the possibility of canceling or postponing the season. A number of college football players expressed their desire to play in 2020 late Sunday night.

Loeffler’s stance on Monday was diametrically opposed to the position she took when WNBA players made statements about the race for her Senate seat and in support of Black Lives Matter last Tuesday.

Loeffler was critical of professional basketball players from the Atlanta Dream and the Phoenix Mercury who wore black warm-up shirts bearing the words “VOTE WARNOCK” in white block letters before a game. Other players wore shirts reading “Black Lives Matter.”

“This is just more proof that the out of control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them,” Loeffler said Tuesday night in a statement, adding that the league is “more concerned with playing politics than basketball.”

Loeffler is a co-owner of the Dream; Rev. Raphael Warnock is a Democrat running against her in the November election.

In July, Loeffler condemned the WNBA’s support for the Black Lives Matter movement, saying it “sends a message of exclusion.” After her comments, the league rejected a request from the WNBA Players’ Association that called for her to be removed as co-owner of the Dream.

“We are @wnba players, but like the late, great John Lewis said, we are also ordinary people with extraordinary vision,” Dream center Elizabeth Williams tweeted on Tuesday.

Warnock “has spent his life fighting for the people and we need him in Washington. Join the movement for a better Georgia at www.Warnockforgeorgia.com,” she added, posting a photo of herself in a “VOTE WARNOCK” shirt.

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