Kelly Loeffler, the Republican senator and co-owner of the Atlanta Dream, told ESPN on Tuesday that she’s worried about the WNBA losing fans over its support of the Black Lives Matter movement. “I think a lot of people feel that they may not have a place,” Loeffler said. “They may feel excluded from this sport and other sports that make them feel like American values aren’t at the core of what we’re doing here.”
Presumably fans of the sport have some interest in the players, who roundly criticized Loeffler a few weeks ago after she wrote a letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert complaining about the prospect of warm-up jerseys bearing the name of the civil rights movement.
“I’m pretty sad to see that my team ownership is not supportive of the movement & all that it stands for,” Dream guard Renee Montgomery wrote on Twitter at the time. “I was already sitting out this season & this is an example of why.”
“How is she still a owner?” Seattle Storm forward Breanna Stewart wrote. “Bye Kelly. Keep that negative energy out of our league.”
Engelbert told CNN last week that the WNBA wouldn’t force Loeffler to sell her share of the team, but emphasized that Loeffler isn’t involved in day-to-day operations and that “we are aware there are interested parties who want to purchase the team.”
“They can’t push me out for my views,” Loeffler told ESPN on Tuesday. “I intend to own the team. I am not going.”
On Wednesday morning Loeffler triumphantly tweeted out the interview:
But over the next few hours, Loeffler changed course, concluding that although she remains a sitting senator and the chamber’s wealthiest member, she actually has suffered for her causes:
In the spring, weeks after being appointed to fill a Senate vacancy, Loeffler minimized the potential impact of the coronavirus pandemic while profiting from millions of dollars in stock trades related to it. The Department of Justice cleared her of wrongdoing in the case. Of late she’s been polling behind Republican rep. Doug Collins, who, it may be worth noting, has been running to her right in an actual election for the seat.
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