As Deadspin reports, “Everytown for Gun Safety, an advocacy group that seeks to end gun violence in America through stricter gun control laws, has cut a series of ads with NBA stars Chris Paul, Steph Curry, Carmelo Anthony, and Joakim Noah.” Or as the New York Times puts it, “In a move with little precedent in professional sports, the N.B.A. is putting the weight of its multi-billion-dollar brand and the prestige of its star athletes behind the series of television commercials calling for an end to gun violence.” Which means the NBA has gone all-in for gun control . . .
The Times is correct. There’s little precedent for a national brand like the NBA — a league that purports to appeal to a broad spectrum of American sports fans — taking one side in as contentious an issue as gun control. Notice I said “gun control” rather than the dog whistle term, “gun violence.” No one who has any familiarity with the issues and players (so to speak) involved is unaware that by throwing in with Everytown for Gun Safety, what the the National Basketball Association is actually doing is putting the full weight of its brand behind more restrictive gun laws.
Those laws, by the way, would disproportionately affect lower to middle income minorites in big cities. That demographic makes up a significant portion of the NBA’s fan base, a cohort the league apparently wishes to help keep disarmed in the face of gang and other street crime where they live.
A decision to partner with the likes of Everytown in this kind of promotional effort had to have come from the very top of NBA management. They’ve obviously made the calculation that coming out very publicly against “gun violence” and the knock-on political and PR ramifications that will entail will, over all, redound to the league’s benefit. That’s a big roll of the dice and one that is by no means a sure thing.
when i ask for your political view i’ll ask you….now go play you over priced game
So, remind me, why would I give any money to the NBA? So they can participate in infringing on my rights? Don’t think so.
Remind me why we support any form of entertainment , they spend millions making more millions blowing stuff up so we can watch stuff blow up . Bouncing and throwing and hitting balls . The entertainment industry , Hollywood , and all those who make a buck off our childish needs to be entertained are not much different than politicians , earning their dime off our leisure . A world of pretend .
I am not preaching per sea , at least not from a position outside the lines of discourse , for I too am guilty of watching the bang, bang movies , occasional football game and B ball games and I watch MMA pretty regularly and I love mini-clip billiards , but I do recognize what I believe to be ‘ my folly ‘ and I am trying to back off most of this stuff .
How did we ever exist before the cell phone ? How can a teenager survive today with a Smart phone ? Can business survive at all without a computer ?
I have consciously set a coarse to wean myself off this technology addiction and concentrate on more concrete aspects of existence . I have severely curtailed my movie and sports viewing . I don’t own a cell phone and I limit my mini-clip to about a 2 hour session every couple of days , I’m working on it , but it is free .
My wife and I have changed our Christmas tradition of buying family and friends gifts they don’t want , don’t need or already have and instead are donating items to local charities , hospitals , drug rehabs , AA , toys for tots , abused women homes , foster care homes and other local organizations that aid people in need and putting the gift recipients’ name on the donation .
These leaches off of our leisure will be protecting themselves and their families and probably expect some residual compensation for adding their names to the Bloomberg minions propaganda machine . I actually enjoy Stef Curry’s game too .
Well said.
No matter where the NBA all star weekend is, there’s always an increase in the number of shootings. Same thing with the hip hop music awards. Funny that it doesn’t happen with the County Music Awards or the NHL all star weekend.
Maybe they should partner with planned parenthood to cut down on the number of baby-mammas they leave all over the country.
Good yet another reason to not watch sportsball
Does the NBA use the round sportsball? Or the stripy one?
Gah!
I tweeted the NBA my disgust. Not sure what else to do. Why do they assume this won’t offend at least half their fans?
Because the other half of their fans think ONLY Black Lives Matter and whoever has a (D) after their name is on their side, no matter what, even if said fans do have a “choppa” (straw-purchased from a pawnshop by one of their baby-mamas) hidden in the closet and a Hi-Point .380 tucked down their pants at all times.
Arresting the entire NBA would put a significant dent in gun crime, rape, illegal drug use.. Remind me again, they play basketball right?
Someone once claimed forty percent of Pro NBA players had felonies.
Anyone know if that’s accurate?
Seems like that would be accurate for the National Felon League, where being a criminal seems to be a prerequisite qualification. So the NBA probably isn’t much different.
Imus used to call them “carjackers in shorts”.
…because I always look to professional basketball stars for moral leadership?? Last month it was Bill Gates. When are these progressive types going to grasp that actualized individuals make rational decisions after weighing data and guided by an internalized moral code. I don’t give a crap if they get the entirety of the NBA, NFL, AFL-CIO, or whatever into a conga line led by Jennifer Aniston and anchored by Michael Moore, it won’t change my opinion. Then again, nor does listening to Ted Nugent or Kurt Russell reinforce my opinions, because blindly following a cult of personality is a crap way to make the choices that govern your life, and damn poor citizenship besides.
Maybe the criminal thugs who populate the NBA teams can join with the criminal thugs who joined the Illegal Mayors against Guns group – they could call themselves something like Thugs For Common Sense Victim Disarmament.
If you get paid to play ball, good on you. Do it for as long as you can. Otherwise, no one really cares what you think. Same thing applies to TV and movie celebrities. You’re not amazing or incredible. You act like other people. You say and do what others tell you to do–that’s your claim to fame. Might as well work for a ventriloquist.
If you read the background story on this you will also see that ESPN executives were involved in getting the NBA involved. Remember that next time you pay your cable TV bill…
No cable bill for me. None of these clowns are getting my money if I can help it. If I can’t pirate it, I don’t watch it.
Always gets me how the comments are always disabled on those videos.
Wonder how much Bloomberg paid them.
at least Bloomberg is starting to market to the right crowd.
It would have been more useful if the NBA stars told the target audience to finish school, get a job, find a girl, marry her and stay away from gangs. /sarc
Somehow I don’t think that the NBA fan base watchs Everytown Videos.
Carmelo Anthony? The same Carmelo Anthony arrested for multiple drug charges, driving under the influence, and fighting? The NBA should worry about stopping the crime problem plaguing their own players.
A while back I read a report that a significant number of NBA players are broke and on the dole in a relatively short period of time after rertiring. Wish I could find it. These are people who made 10s of millions of dollars in a relatively short career. Maybe the NBA gangbangers should learn to manage their money rather than trying to take my guns away.
If some of those NBA players weren’t inside the arena shooting hoops, they’d be outside the arena shooting Crips.
Is that before or after each one gets 6 different women pregnant?
they seem to be doing that in either case–or was that part of your point?
Every problem ia a marketing opportunity. Perhaps this is a good chance to highlight the fact that at least they are finally targeting their message at the right demographic. Focusing the public on black on black gang violence might actually change some numbers.
Or, the NBA could just pound sand.
So how do the ads go? “I’m rich enough to hire professional security guards who receive government carve outs for their weapons. The rest of you underclass slobs can suck it. Call the police of you’re threatened.”
Remind me why we listen to the opinions of the entertainment industry elite on political issues. I’m having trouble thinking of the reasons.
Honestly screw Noah, I am done with him, I am ashamed to say he went to my alma mater and that he now plays for my favorite NBA team. Screw that guy.
They should show their support by searching every player’s car every time they enter the property, and instantly firing any player who is discovered to own a gun of any description, including Airsoft. That would convince me that they are serious.
Hahaha. Apparently, the nba is a close second in pro sports in arrest rates…
http://www.vocativ.com/culture/sport/nfl-arrest-rates/
The NBA as an organization, and ESPN for that matter, are terminally politically correct, and anti-gun is very much PC. I really don’t see how that squares with what one would think would be their fan base, but there it is.
Typical that they disabled the comments. Wonder what are they afraid of?
I don’t need the opinions of felons on “gun violence” any more than I need the opinions of Jerry Sandusky on child welfare…
Gun violence has already ended cuz it never began to begin with
I didn’t need another reason to not watch the NBA, but I’ll add it to my list.
Anthony played for Denver for a while. He was involved in one of the NBA’s ugliest moments. In 2006 a brawl broke out in a game against the NY Knicks. After the fight appeared to be nearly over, Anthony punched another player in the face and knocked him to the floor. Anthony got the 6th longest suspension in NBA history for that, cost him $640,000. Fine person to lecture about violence.
sports in my experience is a domain for the nether apes who dont think too much or too hard about anything. hey did u see the game? no… i did not
Steph, you should know better. That’s too bad.
Haven’t watched the NBA since the Jordanaires ruled. I saw this tripe on the local snooze today. “Getting lectured by rich thugs-it’s what you do”…
Did anybody else notice that they got players from California, NYC, and Chicago.
Maybe the NBA’s infamous ghetto gang-banging thugs and former All Stars, Jason Williams, who shot his limo driver in the chest with a shotgun and got caught trying to cover it up with his Harlem Globetrotter pals and Gilbert Arenas who threatened fellow players in the Washington Bullets I mean “Wizards” locker-room over a gambling debt in former Maryland Gov Martin O’Malley’s “gun free” Landover arena, can add their voices to the campaign.
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