Now, however, the NBA hierarchy is taking a page out of Ingraham’s playbook. The NBA has backtracked on the activist messaging it supported just last summer when NBA courts and players’ jerseys displayed social justice slogans. The expression “Black Lives Matter” is no longer painted boldly on every court. Players no longer display slogans such as “Say Their Names,” “I Can’t Breathe,” or “How Many More” on their jerseys. Essentially, the NBA wants players to again just be quiet and play basketball. The cultural referees are apparently OK with this stifling.
It is now clear that NBA management didn’t greenlight last season’s activism out of any sense of commitment to free speech principles. The NBA was merely responding to public pressure to do something in response to the social unrest of that time. It wanted the expected image building that would accompany public displays of ideology.