Stripped of perversion

Pro sports teams with poor attendance have tried all manner of gimmicky promotions to convince paying customers to watch their product.

What the Atlanta Hawks attempted, however, stands in a class by itself—precisely because class is what it lacked.

Georgia’s NBA franchise was set to host Magic City Night on March 16 when the Orlando Magic came to town. Magic City touts itself as Atlanta’s premier strip club. And as far as such notorious establishments go, it’s not hard to see why Magic City promotes itself that way. According to CBS Sports, musicians, celebrities, and pro athletes frequently stop by in to enjoy the, ahem, entertainment.

The Hawks rank 28th out of 30 NBA teams in attendance even though they’re well-positioned to reach the postseason. They are understandably desperate to get fans into seats at State Farm Arena despite having fewer than 10 home games remaining, and they reportedly called the planned promotion a tribute to an “iconic cultural institution.” The event was to feature Magic City’s lemon pepper-flavored chicken wings, as well as music and “exclusive merchandise.”

I have to wonder whether the event would have featured provocatively dressed or scantily clad women in clear stilettos spinning around poles as pulsating music blared from the arena’s loudspeakers and perverted men stuffed $20 bills into their scanty clothing. I mean, if the Hawks truly wanted to celebrate a business that profits off women’s self-degradation, why wouldn’t they go all the way?

Rightly thinking about the damage his league’s brand would suffer if the tasteless promotion went forward, NBA commissioner Adam Silver wisely stepped in and put the kibosh on it.

San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet deserves some credit for speaking out against it.

“The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world,” Kornet, a practicing Catholic, reportedly wrote on the social media website Medium. “We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love.

“Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”

The Hawks responded to the NBA’s cancellation of their promotion by declaring themselves to be “very disappointed” but added that the team “fully respects” the league’s decision.

The Hawks were disappointed that they weren’t able to promote a local strip club to a crowd that would undoubtedly have included impressionable children?

Do the Hawks feel no shame?

If not, sadly, I can’t say I’m entirely surprised. After all, we live in a society where pop singer Chappell Roan, who appeared at the Grammys in a dress that should have gotten her arrested for indecent exposure, unabashedly glorifies stripper culture with her song Pink Pony Club. (Incidentally, that happens to be the name of another prominent Atlanta strip club—one where golfer Tiger Woods’ ex-mistress, Joslyn James, used to perform.) In this same society, Major League Baseball’s Los Angeles Dodgers hail Kabuki makeup-wearing drag queens who dress as nuns, promote sexual deviance, and mock Christian values while dancing around stripper poles as “Community Heroes.”

What’s even sadder is that the NBA isn’t even a decade past a horrific scandal concerning pervasive sexual harassment—and worse—in the Dallas Mavericks’ workplace.

“Interviews with more than a dozen former and current Mavericks employees in different departments, conducted during a months-long … investigation, paint a picture of a corporate culture rife with misogyny and predatory sexual behavior,” Sports Illustrated reported back in 2018.

The NBA fined the Mavericks $2.5 million for allowing such behavior to go unchecked. To his credit, then-Mavericks owner Mark Cuban not only paid the fine, he also apologized to the women who had been harmed while working for his basketball franchise and offered $10 million to various organizations dedicated to promoting protection and respect for women.

Sports Illustrated’s exposė of the Mavericks’ hostile work environment quoted one former teammate employee as saying, “It was a real-life Animal House”—a reference to the raunchy 1978 big-screen comedy about perpetually drunken college frat boys. The movie shows fraternity members peeping on partially naked sorority girls, talking about female classmates in lewd ways, and even bragging to their school’s dean that they “took a few liberties with our female party guests” right before getting expelled.

Apparently, the Hawks’ brass thought that type of R-rated vibe would boost their team’s bottom line. They should have reconsidered, and the NBA should not have had to intervene.

Even if “there are plenty of good seats available,” to quote the minor league hockey broadcaster from the 1977 comedy movie Slap Shot, there are better ways to fill them than pushing adult entertainment in what should be a family friendly environment.