Arizona Governor Doug Ducey was spotted at a July Fourth event wearing Nike tennis shoes less than 48 hours after publicly torpedoing a deal with the athletic apparel company Tuesday for their cancellation of a “Betsy Ross” inspired shoe.
“Wow, @dougducey standing on principle wearing his Nikes for the 4th of July.” Coconino County Democrats tweeted along with an image of Mr. Ducey in the sneakers. The photo was verified by Phoenix affiliate KNXV.
Nike received flack after a Wall Street Journal report found the company recalled a sneaker featuring a U.S. flag with 13 stars on each heel, reportedly canning it after former football player and political activist Colin Kaepernick said the design could be seen as an offensive symbol of slavery.
In response, Mr. Ducey walked back the deal in a six tweet Twitter thread, saying the deal was slated to be announced that day until the “news broke yesterday afternoon.”
“Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism,” Mr. Ducey tweeted, adding, “Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike.”
Nike claimed the shoe was canceled because it “featured the old version of the American flag.”
A spokesman with the governor’s office reached out to The Washington Times to dismiss the matter as overblown by the media.
“Yes, the Governor owns Nikes. Stop the presses,” Patrick Ptak, Mr. Ducey’s director of communications said in an email to the Times.
“The Governor didn’t call for a boycott. He didn’t even say the company wasn’t welcome to do business in Arizona,” Mr. Ptak added. “He said we should be respecting our flag, our history and Betsy Ross.”
• Bailey Vogt can be reached at bvogt@washingtontimes.com.
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