FPI / August 10, 2020
Corporate WATCH
By Joe SchaefferI've seen a lot of comments on social media and whatnot of late asking, "what's next with pro sports – supporting abortion?" As if that is some kind of crazy notion. Well, actually, since you asked, that bus is right around the corner and rumbling this way.
Why should things stop with Black Lives Matter? With professional sports now having opened Pandora's Box to the active promotion of a leftist political agenda via its rabid support for the Marxist BLM movement, American sports fans who choose to still follow the exploits of these out-of-touch athletes and the moneyed owners and league officials who run their pampered playpens should brace themselves for even more explicitly partisan activism in the very near future.
In fact, the National Basketball Association has been dipping its toes into the highly controversial abortion issue for some time. Now that wokeness is the marching order of the day in the world of sports, will we see the league openly endorse Planned Parenthood? It's not a large leap at all. In fact, it's already happening.
The NBA just announced the creation of the NBA Foundation, a social justice fund that will start off with $300 million in seed money to fund "black empowerment." There is every reason to believe that this marks the beginning of an overt, vigorous financial activism for the league. It's not hard to detect where an expanded agenda will lead.
Kate Jhaveri was appointed Chief Marketing Officer of the NBA in 2019. Her official NBA.com bio proudly states that "Jhaveri serves as secretary of the national board for Planned Parenthood Action Fund." Jhaveri's LinkedIn page boasts of her role at Planned Parenthood right under her NBA listing. "Working with a supremely talented organization to ensure millions of women have access to the healthcare they deserve," it reads. This woman is simultaneously serving as a top staffer for the world's preeminent basketball league and the Western world's leading baby murdering operation.
In 2018 the league announced that the WNBA, the women's league that was created by the NBA and is still intimately intertwined with it, was launching an effort known as "Take a Seat, Take a Stand." According to an official NBA press release, this was to be a "new women and girls empowerment program for the 2018 season."
"Six national partner organizations for 'Take a Seat, Take a Stand,' [were] selected for their advocacy on behalf of girls and women," the release detailed. Among them:
"Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading provider and advocate of high-quality, affordable health care for women, men and young people, as well as the nation's largest provider of sex education."
The WNBA's Seattle Storm created a special partnership with Planned Parenthood, hosting a "Planned Parenthood Night. "We are thrilled about this first-of-its-kind partnership," [PP exec Christine] Charbonneau said, Bleacher Report reported at the time. "The Seattle Storm owners made a decision to publicly support Planned Parenthood making them the first professional sports team to make their voice heard and their stance known."
The NBA Cares Facebook page specifically noted that fans could support PP by buying a ticket. "Find out how you can support organizations like Planned Parenthood," the official message from the NBA read.
On its NBA.com website, the league exulted in the positive reception the news got from assorted leftists in Hollywood and the world of politics:
"In addition to media outlets, supportive messages came from well-known figures like actress Julianne Moore, New York City deputy mayor Alicia Glen, actress Aisha Tyler, former U.S. National Security Advisor Susan Rice, former NBA player Jason Collins and New York Times columnist Frank Bruni."
In 2015 the NBA partnered with LeanIn, a feminist organization created by former Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg, in a campaign that "enlisted NBA stars LeBron James, Stephen Curry and some of the basketball league's other top players to convince more men to join the fight for women's rights at home and at work."
Sandberg is an ardent supporter of Planned Parenthood, donating $1 million to it in 2017 and 2019. Take the Lead, an organization co-founded by Gloria Feldt, a former Planned Parenthood of America Federation president, is a frequent collaborator of LeadIn.
During its 2019-20 funding year, the Golden State Warriors, the premier NBA team over the past several seasons, donated $40,000 through its Community Foundation to Girls, Inc. of Alameda County.
Girls, Inc. is a female empowerment group that staunchly advocates for the murder of the unborn. The organization was a core backer of the radical feminist Women’s March and its top leadership has longstanding close ties to Planned Parenthood. In 2008 LifeNews.com reported that Girls Inc. teamed up with PP to host pro-abortion workshops for high school students.
The Warriors Community Foundation is also a partner of The Unity Council, a radical pro-immigration and "social justice" group in the Bay Area. Major League Baseball's Oakland Athletics also partners with the organization. Warriors Vice President of Community Relations and Community Foundation Executive Director Melanie Moore was listed on the Host Committee for the Unity Council's 55th Anniversary Celebration in 2019, alongside Gilda Gonzalez, CEO of Planned Parenthood Northern California.
It was no surprise to see Gonzalez's name there. She served as CEO of the Unity Council for 8 years before eventually moving on to her major leadership post at PP.
The NBA and its leading lights have up until now trod very softly on the issue of abortion, fully realizing how alienating it would be to a large chunk of its fans. In 2015, Mark Cuban, the attention-seeking blowhard owner of the Dallas Mavericks who has frequently hinted at running for president, tweeted out and then quickly deleted a defense of Margaret Sanger, the founder of Planned Parenthood. In his deleted tweet, Cuban cited a "fact check" from the PP-aligned, avidly pro-abortion Guttmacher Institute that declared Sanger was not a eugenicist who targeted black babies for abortion as a means of population control.
"Decided didn't want to do this on Twitter," a follow-up tweet read. "Not the right medium."
But that was before the summer of George Floyd. Professional sports now feels it has been given a green light to indulge in the full fury of social justice posturing, and the various leagues have not failed to take advantage of the opportunity. The words "Black Lives Matter" have appeared on MLB pitching mounds and NBA courts. Egotistical players have basked in the limelight of bending a knee during the National Anthem as video rolled and cameras clicked away.
Pro sports has crossed the "harmless diversion" Rubicon. It's up to each individual American to decide how much he wants to continue to support these leagues despite their behavior. One thing is for sure. As they inevitably move on to more and more controversial issues, these out-of-touch elites awash in their money are only going to make it easier for nauseated Americans to click off the TV and walk away.
P.S.: Wait until you learn how they're pushing transgender kids.
Joe Schaeffer is the former Managing Editor of The Washington Times National Weekly Edition. His columns appear at WorldTribune.com, LibertyNation.com and FreePressInternational.org.
Free Press International
