Bob Costas Calls Out ‘Stark Contrast’ of RNC Convention Amid NBA Strike to Protest Jacob Blake Shooting: Most of GOP Can’t Even ‘Express Basic Sympathy’

Longtime sports commentator Bob Costas sharply criticized tone of the Republican National Convention, pointing to the “stark contrast” between its messaging and the Black Lives Matter-inspired pro sports strikes in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Costas, a CNN contributor, discussed with anchor Jake Tapper the breaking news that the Milwaukee Bucks had just staged an impromptu strike of their NBA playoff game on Wednesday to draw attention to shocking video of the unarmed Blake being gunned down by a Kenosha, Wisc. police officer at point blank range. The NBA strike quickly spread and, as a result, the league quickly announced that it would postpone all playoff games that night.

Tapper pointed out that the merging of sports and politics in the era of Black Lives Matter has become much more intense since the days of Muhammad Ali.

“The times have changed,” Tapper said. “And it wasn’t as though Dr. J and Magic Johnson were running around endorsing Progressive causes at the time. Really very few people were. Muhammad Ali was the exception. I’m just saying it’s so widespread today that the culture has changed.”

“Yeah. The situation has reached critical mass,” Costas agreed before launching a broadside against the RNC. “And I know people will get on me or us for saying this, but you can not have a more stark contrast with this happening during the week of the Republican convention.”

“Most of those voices there standing not just in sympathy with, you don’t have to agree with the rioting. You don’t have to agree with every assertion made by every NBA player or every person who is in sympathy with the cause of Black Lives Matter. There are legitimate disagreements there,” Costas continued. “But so many of the voices at the Republican National Convention stand in stark opposition and cannot even bring themselves to express basic sympathy with the overall issue. Not just to say, ‘Oh, yeah, there are one-offs and there are exceptions,’ no, there’s a systemic problem here, and it resonates all the more because it has such historical antecedents. If you can’t acknowledge that, no matter where you fall generally speaking on the political spectrum, I think history has long since left you behind.”

Watch the video above, via CNN.

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