Georgia senator Kelly Loeffler has strongly rejected plans by the WNBA to dedicate the upcoming basketball season to social justice with the lawmaker saying “no one has asked politics to come into sports”.
According to Yahoo News, Loeffler, a co-owner of WNBA team Atlanta Dream, wrote a letter to Catherine Engelbert in which Loeffler described the WNBA’s move as an attempt to sideline people with conservative political opinions.
Loeffler, a Republican, reportedly wrote:
“No one has asked politics to come into sports. Sports are about unifying people. People from all walks of life from all political views should be welcomed in sports and to cancel someone because they want to protect innocent life; because they are fighting for the unborn; because they support the Second Amendment; because I support the constitutional rights that have been given to us by God? Why would that not fit as part of American sports culture? That should be a tenet of sports, is to welcome all views.”
The WNBA, however, disagreed with Loeffler saying the organization “…will continue to vigorously advocate for social justice. Senator Kelly Loeffler has not served as Governor of Atlanta Dream since October 2019 and is no longer involved in the day to day business of the team.”
In a related development, two WNBA stars, the Washington Mystics’ Natasha Cloud and New York Liberty’s Layshia Clarendon, have called on Loeffler to step down as owner of the Atlanta Dream.
Their call comes on the back of the WNBA Player Association also asking that Loeffler is removed from her position in connection with the league. But on Fox News over the weekend, Loeffler shot down the calls asking her to step down.
Loeffler has in the past criticized the Black Lives Matter movement, decrying what she believes is the movement’s dangerous repercussions for the US.
Earlier in the year, she was accused of capitalizing on information from a private meeting with senators to sell her stocks on the New York Stock exchange, allegedly knowing which stocks would plummet.
