It’s the Clintons’ fault.
After the NBA announced on Thursday that the league would no longer hold the 2017 All-Star game in Charlotte, North Carolina, due to the state’s anti-LGBT law, the re-election campaign of Gov. Pat McCrory (R) placed the blame where it squarely belonged: on Bill and Hillary Clinton.
“It is no surprise that the NBA has chosen to politically target North Carolina during an election year since Doug Sosnick, Bill Clinton’s former White House Political Director, serves as the NBA’s chief political advisor,” the campaign said in a Thursday evening statement.
“While it would be front-page news if Karl Rove were advising an organization on how to inflict economic damage on a state to benefit the Republican’s election prospects, this is standard operating procedure for the Clintons, who get away with it thanks to their friends in the media,” the statement reads.
The heretofore unknown conspiracy between the Clintons’ and the NBA to swing the election in a critical swing state has not been substantiated.
The governor’s office issued a slightly tamer statement, but still blasted the “liberal media” and “left-wing special interest groups” for pushing back against the new law.
The law, known as HB2, eliminates local governments’ abilities to pass anti-discrimination measures to protect LGBT individuals and keeps transgender people from using the public restroom that corresponds to their gender identity.
Since the law was passed, the NBA has threatened to pull its All-Star game from the state, and the league finally followed through on Thursday.
“Our week-long schedule of All-Star events and activities is intended to be a global celebration of basketball, our league, and the values for which we stand, and to bring together all members of the NBA community — current and former players, league and team officials, business partners, and fans,” a statement from the NBA reads. “While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by HB2.”
