Magic City Monday is no more.
The NBA cancelling Magic City Monday for when the Atlanta Hawks host the Orlando Magic next week wasn’t just about nixing an in-arena promotion connected to the popular gentleman’s club and its popular wings.
The NBA might consider itself progressive, but not that progressive.
My only surprise is that it took more than a week for the NBA to halt the idea. Not because I’m against it or I don’t like strip clubs. If I had an extra $125 to spare, I would have ordered one of the hoodies from the promotion before they sold out. And yes, many gentleman’s clubs have a great menu, trust me.
But this isn’t about legality or morality.
This is about image and money. Not the money that showers dancers on the stage, but the corporate dollars that might have gone away if the NBA was OK with being publicly associated with a strip club.
The NBA is going to choose its image and its sponsors over the culture of any city anytime.
Society has evolved in many ways, but not enough for the Hawks’ plans to be mainstream enough to be accepted by the masses, even if the only things featured from the club next week were the chicken wings and a live podcast featuring Magic City founder Michael “Mr. Magic” Barney.
Yes, strip clubs are a part of NBA culture. Some players gleefully pack bags with $1 bills in preparation for games in Atlanta. Some of the music you hear in stadiums is also the occasional popular strip club anthem. It’s not uncommon to run into someone associated with the league at the club. Because they can be such a part of a city’s culture, even in this social media era, many feel comfortable spending money and time in gentlemen’s clubs without judgment.
Where do you think the term “Buckhead Flu” came from? Players spending too much time taking in the late-night scene then slogging through a game with the Hawks.
Many famous Atlanta rappers have broken music in the clubs and made songs about them. Ludacris, who performed at NBA All-Star Saturday night, has multiple songs celebrating the strip club life, but they weren’t a part of his set last month at Intuit Dome.
Having a night dedicated to honoring the cultural legacy of a strip club was just too much for a corporate entity with billions of dollars at stake.
There are enough negative connotations associated with the clubs for the NBA to be scared and to stop the Hawks’ plans.
San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet wrote last week that allowing the promotion to happen without opposition “would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”
That sounds noble, right?
I don’t believe Kornet was the only player (former Hawk Al Horford supported Kornet’s words) who took issue with the promotion. But a player’s words aren’t enough alone to shift the league, especially those of a backup center.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver’s statement on the cancellation cited “significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners and employees. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.”
Translation: The NBA doesn’t want to be associated with lap dances.
There’s a difference between someone associated with the league choosing to go to Magic City and the league endorsing a Magic City night. Proponents of the event cite Atlanta culture but do you really think the league cares about Atlanta’s culture when it might lose corporate sponsors?
The NBA reminded us again that it will nix anything that it doesn’t believe fits the league’s brand.
Allen Iverson’s tattoos were once digitally removed by a league publication. Late commissioner David Stern heard Iverson’s rap song “40 Bars” and called him into his office to express his disapproval.
Remember when the players started looking too much like rappers in the early 2000? Throwback jerseys and bejeweled chains went away when Stern implemented the league’s dress code in 2005.
The underlying message in those situations was the NBA would not allow the players to make its biggest stakeholders feel uncomfortable.
Strip clubs have occasionally snuck into the NBA’s news cycle. Lou Williams famously violated the league’s COVID-19 protocols by visiting Magic City for dinner after leaving the bubble to attend a funeral.
But that was Williams on his own time, not a team promotion.
I’m not mad the Hawks tried this, I’m just not shocked the NBA said no.
I agree the NBA has plenty of issues that would seem more important.
Hall of Fame player and Portland coach Chauncey Billups, and Miami guard Terry Rozier are facing federal charges related to gambling while the league remains partners with betting companies. LaMelo Ball’s driving seems more pressing than Magic City. Others point to players with domestic violence charges who are still playing.
There’s also this: The NBA already has money associated with Magic City. Hawks principal owner Jami Gertz was an executive producer on “Magic City: An American Fantasy,” a five-part docuseries that aired on STARZ last year.
Still, Silver said keep Magic City away.
Rapper T.I. will still perform at halftime of next Monday’s game. If you ordered a hoodie, you’ll still get it, but they won’t be sold in the arena.
The only Magic the NBA wants next week in Atlanta is from Orlando.