Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey says the team made a decision not to stay at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York this season.

Toronto Raptors coach Dwane Casey says the team made a decision not to stay at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York this season.
Photo Credit: CP Photo / Neil Davidson

Toronto Raptors join anti-Trump ranks

Players on the Toronto Raptors, Canada’s only National Basketball Association team, have joined the growing number of North American professional athletes disgusted by some of U.S. President Donald Trump’s words and policies.

Raptors officials confirmed a report Thursday in the Washington Post that the team had joined at least 12 others that will no longer stay at Trump-owned hotels on road trips.

It is unclear where the Raptors will stay on three scheduled visits to New York City this season, but it will not be at the Trump SoHo, the hotel where they have stayed for several years.

“We talked about it, talked about where we’re staying…It was a decision made by us and a lot of teams in the league,” Raptors coach Dwane Casey told the Toronto Star’s Doug Smith.

At least 12 NBA teams will not be staying at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York this season.
At least 12 NBA teams will not be staying at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York this season. © AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The Washington Post contacted all 123 teams in the four major North American sports–baseball, basketball, football and hockey.

Of the 105 organizations that responded, none would confirm that their players are staying at Trump hotels.

The boycott is just the latest shot fired in the battle between Trump and professional–and many amateur–athletes.

The battle heated up in September after Trump–in an apparent appeal to his political base–turned what had started as a protest started last season by NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick against police brutality and racial violence in the U.S. into an attack on the players’ patriotism because some were–among other things–kneeling during the U.S national anthem prior to games.

The backlash has been especially strong by players in the National Football League and the National Basketball Association with the NBA champion Golden State Warriors refusing to visit the White House.

The NHL champion Pittsburgh Penguins did accept the White House invitation to visit and were castigated by many for doing so.

NFL team owners are meeting Tuesday to consider requiring football players to stand for the U.S. national anthem.

The meeting comes after Trump suggested this week that he might us tax laws to penalize the league for players who kneel in protest.

With files from The Toronto Star, Sportsnet, The Intercept

Categories: International, Politics, Society
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