Ben Blanchet
Fri, 4 August 2023
The National Basketball Players Association has dropped its two cents on the Orlando Magic’s “alarming” $50,000 donation to a super PAC that supports Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The players union said in a statement that the political contribution is “alarming given recent comments and policies of its beneficiary.”
“NBA governors, players and personnel have the right to express their personal political views, including through donations and statements,” the union said in a statement. “However, if contributions are made on behalf of an entire team, using money earned through the labor of its employees, it is incumbent upon the team governors to consider the diverse values and perspectives of staff and players.”
“The Magic’s donation does not represent player support for the recipient,” the statement continued.
The union’s remarks arrive after a spokesperson for the team said that the donation to the super PAC occurred on May 19, prior to the governor’s presidential campaign announcement.
“To clarify, this gift was given before Gov. DeSantis entered the presidential race. It was given as a Florida business in support of a Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida,” Joel Glass, chief communications officer for the team, said in a statement to HuffPost.
The super PAC was calling on DeSantis to run for president at that time, however. He formally announced his campaign days later, on May 24.
NBA spokesperson Mike Bass told The New York Times that team governors “make their own decisions on the political contributions they make,” adding that it respects “the right of members of the NBA family to express their political views.”
The Orlando Magic has made several political donations in the past. The team is owned by in-laws of former Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who served in the administration of former president and DeSantis rival Donald Trump.
The Magic has been sponsored by Disney, which the Florida governor has targeted in his so-called war on “woke.”
Several figures in the sports world have weighed in on the super PAC donation, including commentator Stephen A. Smith.
“We’ve got a governor in Florida that has made a plethora of decisions that the LGBTQ community has found offensive, that Black people have found offensive, that immigrants have found offensive,” Smith said on his podcast. “Where the hell else are all these other athletes? Where are you?”
In response to the donation news, New Orleans Pelicans forward Larry Nance Jr. went after DeSantis for backing Florida’s controversial educational standards. The standards include saying students should be taught that enslaved people had opportunities to develop skills for their personal benefit.
“So the @OrlandoMagic who have a majority black roster, a black head coach, and a black GM decided it was a good idea to support a man that claims that slavery had personal benefits for the enslaved?” Nance wrote on social media.
Prior to the news of the donation, retiring Miami Heat forward Udonis Haslem slammed DeSantis and said Floridians aren’t happy with his actions.
“I happen to live there and I was born there. It’s not my fault. So please stop Florida-shaming us people,” Haslem said of his Florida ties in an interview with the Boston Globe.
“We’re not happy about what this man [DeSantis] is doing,” he added. “Diversity and inclusion and taking the [books away]. We’re not happy about that.”
Orlando Magic gave $50,000 to Super PAC backing Ron DeSantis
By Steven Lemongello
Orlando, Fla. — One name stands out among the list of millionaire and billionaire contributors to the Super PAC backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign: the Orlando Magic basketball team.
Orlando Magic Ltd. is listed as giving $50,000 to Never Back Down, the political committee now essentially operating as DeSantis’ campaign in many states, according to its first FEC filing.
The Magic are owned by the DeVos family, who are longtime Republican donors from the Grand Rapids area and have given millions to the party and GOP candidates over the years.
Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Democratic state House member from Orlando and current state Senate candidate, slammed the team for contributing to DeSantis’ campaign despite holding a Pride Night event in March.
The event, which the Magic website states was “to celebrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and unity with the LGBTQ+ community,” featured a Pride Night T-shirt created by Orlando artist Adam McCabe, a halftime performance by Orlando Gay Chorus and a ceremony honoring Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the chair of the LGBTQ group OneOrlando Alliance and the director of Hope CommUnity Center in Orlando.
McCabe and Sousa-Lazaballet could not be reached for comment.
DeSantis has drawn the ire of the LGBTQ community for the controversial “don’t say gay” law banning instruction sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and since expanded by the state Board of Education to 12th grade.
DeSantis has also signed laws banning gender-affirming treatments for minors and cracking down on drag shows. Someone in his campaign reportedly also created a video bashing former President Donald Trump for saying he’d protect LGBTQ people following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016 that killed 49. The video was derided as homophobic by the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans.
The team raised a “49” banner in 2016 in honor of Pulse victims.
“The Orlando Magic need to pick a side,” Smith said. “… Because it doesn’t square with me that you can have a Pride Night and claim to celebrate and support the LGBTQ community, and then donate $50,000 to a presidential candidate who is running against the LGBTQ community and promoting a platform to take away our rights. These two things cannot exist at the same time.”
NBA owners have made individual contributions, including Knicks owner James Dolan’s many contributions to Republicans and Democrats in New York and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban contributing to Democrat Zoe Lofgren’s campaign in 2002.
But none of the DeVos family members are listed as having contributed to Never Back Down, just the team itself.
Magic spokesman Joel Glass said while the contribution was listed as being on June 26, the check was dated and delivered on May 19, a week before DeSantis announced his bid for the presidency.
“To clarify, this gift was given before Gov. DeSantis entered the presidential race,” Glass said. “It was given as a Florida business in support of a Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida.”
Never Back Down, though, was specifically formed in March by former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli to “urge Ron DeSantis to run for president.” The group ran an ad in April bashing Trump for his criticism of DeSantis.
The Magic organization has made federal political contributions in the past, including $2,000 to a young conservative group in 2014, $500 to a group called Conservative Results in 2016 and $500 to Democratic Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin’s congressional campaign in 2000, according to FEC filings.
SFGate editor Alex Shultz reported that the latest check to Never Back Down could be considered the largest-ever political contribution attributed to any NBA team, with only a few $15,000 donations by the Phoenix Suns to the Republican Party in the late 1990s as a comparison.
“There’s probably a joke in here about the Magic investing in yet another overhyped prospect,” Shultz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to DeSantis’ low poll numbers in the GOP primary.
By Steven Lemongello
Orlando, Fla. — One name stands out among the list of millionaire and billionaire contributors to the Super PAC backing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ presidential campaign: the Orlando Magic basketball team.
Orlando Magic Ltd. is listed as giving $50,000 to Never Back Down, the political committee now essentially operating as DeSantis’ campaign in many states, according to its first FEC filing.
The Magic are owned by the DeVos family, who are longtime Republican donors from the Grand Rapids area and have given millions to the party and GOP candidates over the years.
Carlos Guillermo Smith, a former Democratic state House member from Orlando and current state Senate candidate, slammed the team for contributing to DeSantis’ campaign despite holding a Pride Night event in March.
The event, which the Magic website states was “to celebrate diversity, equity, inclusion, and unity with the LGBTQ+ community,” featured a Pride Night T-shirt created by Orlando artist Adam McCabe, a halftime performance by Orlando Gay Chorus and a ceremony honoring Felipe Sousa-Lazaballet, the chair of the LGBTQ group OneOrlando Alliance and the director of Hope CommUnity Center in Orlando.
McCabe and Sousa-Lazaballet could not be reached for comment.
DeSantis has drawn the ire of the LGBTQ community for the controversial “don’t say gay” law banning instruction sexual orientation and gender identity in kindergarten through third grade and since expanded by the state Board of Education to 12th grade.
DeSantis has also signed laws banning gender-affirming treatments for minors and cracking down on drag shows. Someone in his campaign reportedly also created a video bashing former President Donald Trump for saying he’d protect LGBTQ people following the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in 2016 that killed 49. The video was derided as homophobic by the conservative LGBTQ group Log Cabin Republicans.
The team raised a “49” banner in 2016 in honor of Pulse victims.
“The Orlando Magic need to pick a side,” Smith said. “… Because it doesn’t square with me that you can have a Pride Night and claim to celebrate and support the LGBTQ community, and then donate $50,000 to a presidential candidate who is running against the LGBTQ community and promoting a platform to take away our rights. These two things cannot exist at the same time.”
NBA owners have made individual contributions, including Knicks owner James Dolan’s many contributions to Republicans and Democrats in New York and Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban contributing to Democrat Zoe Lofgren’s campaign in 2002.
But none of the DeVos family members are listed as having contributed to Never Back Down, just the team itself.
Magic spokesman Joel Glass said while the contribution was listed as being on June 26, the check was dated and delivered on May 19, a week before DeSantis announced his bid for the presidency.
“To clarify, this gift was given before Gov. DeSantis entered the presidential race,” Glass said. “It was given as a Florida business in support of a Florida governor for the continued prosperity of Central Florida.”
Never Back Down, though, was specifically formed in March by former Trump administration official Ken Cuccinelli to “urge Ron DeSantis to run for president.” The group ran an ad in April bashing Trump for his criticism of DeSantis.
The Magic organization has made federal political contributions in the past, including $2,000 to a young conservative group in 2014, $500 to a group called Conservative Results in 2016 and $500 to Democratic Orange County Mayor Linda Chapin’s congressional campaign in 2000, according to FEC filings.
SFGate editor Alex Shultz reported that the latest check to Never Back Down could be considered the largest-ever political contribution attributed to any NBA team, with only a few $15,000 donations by the Phoenix Suns to the Republican Party in the late 1990s as a comparison.
“There’s probably a joke in here about the Magic investing in yet another overhyped prospect,” Shultz wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, referring to DeSantis’ low poll numbers in the GOP primary.
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