One meme, an alleged quote from Larry Bird criticizing NBA players for his political standing is “totally false,” according to the Indiana Pacers.
WHTR’s Carlos Diaz contacted the team on Sunday and won an unequivocal denial from the Hall of Famer.The meme he circulated included a fake Bird quote asking players to “shut up and play the damn game” and gave the impression that players in Brief went on strike last week to protest racial discrimination and police brutality against blacks following Jacob Blake’s Wisconsin shooting.
Bird remained largely an apolitical public life, although he refused to make a stopover at the Ronald Reagan White House in 1984 after the Celtics won the NBA championship.
“If the president needs to see me, he knows where to go,” Bird told the Boston Globe.
Bird’s brother Mark has sought a political task in 2018.
Bird’s fake quote has circulated widely in Republican/conservative circles, and most of the party’s political leaders publicly criticized NBA players and the Black Lives Matter movement.President Donald Trump said over the weekend that the protests would “destroy basketball.”
The NBA and its players have had questionable relationships with Republican lawmakers under the Trump administration, adding Trump himself.The fake quote was probably created in a component to defame existing players who oppose the past generation, given Bird’s position as a popular figure.