Olbermann: Clippers Should ‘Refuse to Play’ Until NBA Gets Rid of Sterling
ESPN anchor Keith Olbermann weighed in on Donald Sterling‘s alleged racist rant (in which he tells his girlfriend not to publicly associate with black people for some reason) by saying the people with the most power to get rid of him aren’t the fans or the media, it’s the players, and if they take a stand and refuse to play, it will resonate and Sterling will be out the door in a heartbeat.
Olbermann took to Twitter to tell the team to “step up” in order to get “this racist jackass” removed. He argued that relying on team owners to act isn’t good enough, and that the fans and media have “no power here,” so the quickest way to get Sterling outta there is for players to boycott.
Here’s what Olbermann had to say:
Simply put, time for #Clippers players to step up. Refuse to play till NBA moves against this racist jackass #Sterling. NBA can't defend him
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
.@LOLY2K Look, you want this fixed, or you want to wait for the owners to be enlightened? Fans, media, no power here. Players have it.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
I'd prefer fans, media, owners, NBA to do something about #Sterling. We haven't. We've failed to. #Clippers players have the power.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
Players' power has been forgotten thru disuse. After MLK killed MLB wouldn't postpone games. Players rebelled. Games postponed. #Sterling
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
If #Clippers actually refused to play, NBA would defer to them immediately. Can't be seen defending Sterling. Can't not deliver games to tv
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
No games would be cancelled, no fan would lose money, no player would be punished. For all the owners' power, no players = no game = no $
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
If you think a fan boycott would somehow help, can you think of any fan action that ever had any impact? Fans are fungible. #Clippers aren't
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
Additionally #Sterling sold LA 20 years of horrific #Clippers teams and made huge profits. Fans. Go. Anyway. Wish it were otherwise. Isn't.
— Keith Olbermann (@KeithOlbermann) April 26, 2014
[photo via screengrab]
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