National Basketball Association commissioner Adam Silver has weighed-in on a report claiming President Donald Trump attacked Haiti and other countries as “sh**hole nations.” Saying that Trump’s purported comments are “discouraging” but won’t deter the NBA’s “work.”
“I certainly understand how upset he is as an immigrant to this country and Canada,” Silver told ESPN when asked about Toronto Raptors president Masai Ujiri’s anger over Trump’s reported comments. “I think for him, someone who does so much in his daily life to improve the life of Africans through his personal foundation, through our Basketball Without Borders program, it is discouraging. But Masai will not in any way be deterred from the work he is doing just as the league won’t be.”
Silver said he spoke to Ujiri who was born in Nigeria and was one of the first members of the NBA to come out against the comments Trump is reported to have said.
“I don’t think it’s fair, and I don’t think it’s what inspiring leadership can be,” Ujiri told ESPN on Friday. “What sense of hope are we giving people if you are calling where they live, and where they’re from, a s**thole?”
The NBA chief added that the NBA would continue to reach out to foreign nations.
Silver told ESPN, “it is a reminder and an impetus to continue pushing forward with the kind of things that we can do together as a league. Sports continue to be a unique opportunity to unite people, and it is a place where there is a rare sense of equality. Certainly, we are proud that within the NBA, you are judged by your performance on the floor, regardless of your background, nationality or ethnicity.”
“To me,” Silver continued, “it is also reinforcement of how important it is that we stay the course in terms of the programs that this league has been operating for decades and new programs like NBA Voices that we are beginning this week.”
Silver has been a loud voice attacking President Trump at least since the 2016 primaries. In fact, in December of 2016, he moved to politicize the NBA’s possible visits to the White House saying that players should use their visits as an opportunity to push a liberal agenda.
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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