WNBA's Atlanta Dream Players Support Co-Owner Kelly Loeffler's Senate Challenger
If Georgia Sen. Kelly Loeffler, R-Ga., wins re-election in November, it won’t be with the help of her WNBA team. Players on the Atlanta Dream, which Loeffler co-owns, wore shirts before Tuesday’s game in support of Democratic challenger Rev. Raphael Warnock.
Members of the Dream and other teams sported shirts that read “Vote Warnock.” Dream center Elizabeth Williams went as far as tweeting her support for Warnock, including a link to his campaign’s website.
Loeffler publicly clashed with her own players in June when she denounced the WNBA’s promotion of the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The Dream co-owner has said she is opposed to the “radical ideas” promoted by “Black Lives Matter.”
It was actually a player from another team, Seattle Storm star Sue Bird, that came up with the idea of supporting Loeffler's challenger.
“I'm not some political strategist, but what I do know is that voting is important. And I think our league has always encouraged people to use their voices and to get out and vote,” Bird told ESPN.
“So, what a great way for us to get the word out about this man, and hopefully put him in the Senate. And, if he's in the Senate, you know who's not. And I'll just leave it at that.”
Loeffler offered no remorse for her past comments. “This is just more proof that the out of control cancel culture wants to shut out anyone who disagrees with them,” she said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s clear that the league is more concerned with playing politics than basketball, and I stand by what I wrote in June.”
Amid calls from several players for Loeffler to give up her stake in the Dream last month, WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert told CNN that the league would not force Loeffler to sell her interest in the team.
Loeffler is part of the ownership group that purchased the Dream in 2011.
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