Source: Ronald Martinez / Getty
egendary
NBA coach
Phil Jackson’s winning pedigree can’t get him out of his latest controversy.
Jackson appeared on record exec Rick Rubin’s podcast,
Tetragrammaton with Rick Rubin, where he spoke about why basketball is a significant part of his life story, but it hasn’t been of much interest to him since the
2020 NBA season finished up in the bubble.
But it’s got nothing to do with the odd, reclusive setup inside the
Disney World campus and everything to do with the rise of
social justice awareness around the league.
“… They had things on their back like ‘Justice,’ and a funny thing happened like, ‘Justice just went to the basket, and Equal Opportunity knocked him down,’” Jackson said. “… Some of my grandkids thought it was pretty funny to play up those names; I couldn’t watch that.”
Amid the protest of
George Floyd’s killing, the NBA became more socially conscience and allowed players to wear progressive statements on the back of their jerseys in place of last names, like Black Lives Matter, I Can’t Breathe, Vote Say Their Names, Anti-Racist, Justice, Power to the People, How Many More, Equality, Peace, Respect Us, and Stand Up.
While the NBA was applauded for standing with the oppressed and victims of
police brutality, Jackson thinks it upset another demographic.
“It was trying to cater to an audience or trying to bring a certain audience to the game and they didn’t know it was turning other people off,” he said. “People want to see sports as non-political. Politics stays out of the game; it doesn’t need to be there.”
You can listen to the entire episode above and see how
Twitter’s reacting to Jackson’s comments below:
