Billionaire Mark Cuban says the Marxist founders of Black Lives Matter are “completely different” than the Black Lives Matter movement as it exists today.
The Dallas Mavericks owner spoke with journalist Megyn Kelly for her latest podcast about the NBA’s support of the controversial movement, its roots and the television ratings fallout for the league.
“I can tell you that while we are interested in police reform, yes, and we have had discussions of police reform, yes, we have never talked about defunding the police,” Mr. Cuban said about the NBA’s internal discussions about BLM. “[Those who want to defund the police] are an extreme different end. You’re wrong, Megyn, because BLM the hashtag — BLM the hashtag, the founders — is completely different than BLM the movement.”
Ms. Kelly noted that trying to separate the movement from its co-founders Patrisse Cullors and Alicia Garza was a losing proposition among millions of Americans.
“Mark, people don’t understand this distinction you’re trying to make,” the “Megyn Kelly Show” host countered. “That’s why they find this logo [on NBA courts] alienating. It’s not that they don’t support blm lower-case blm, it’s that what this group has become with the protests in the streets that have turned into riots with bothering people at their dinner tables, making them raise a fist and say ’Black Lives Matter.’ And with this push to defund the police, which has already worked in some cities. In New York, they took a billion bucks away from the police force to the detriment of the inner city, to the women and the children and the men in the city is really controversial.”
The two continued sparring over how much BLM activists support defunding the police when Ms. Kelly jokingly said the league should consider “footnotes” for its BLM signage.
“In terms of controlling the narrative, it’s been awful. And the reason it’s been awful is that there is no leadership. There is no one speaking for BLM,” Mr. Cuban maintained.
The NBA owner also took issue with media outlets showing older clips of Ms. Cullors embracing her Marxist beliefs.
“The first thing, I think, is that we actually do have an ideological frame. Myself and Alicia, in particular, are trained organizers,” she said in a 2015 interview on The Real News Network. “We are trained Marxists. We are super-versed on, sort of, ideological theories. And I think that what we really tried to do is build a movement that could be utilized by many, many Black folk.”
Mark Cuban and @MegynKelly get in-depth on the NBA and social justice - from on-court messaging this season and “Black Lives Matter” to “The Talk” Cuban has discussed with his players.
— The Megyn Kelly Show (@MegynKellyShow) October 12, 2020
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• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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