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News > Sport

Michael Jordan Says He's Opposed to Discrimination in Any Form

  • Air Jordan doing what he did best.

    Air Jordan doing what he did best. | Photo: AFP

Published 11 May 2016
Opinion

Recently NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed  the league would move the 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte if HB2 is not reversed.

Six-time NBA legendary player Michael Jordan, who now owns the Charlotte Hornets, said Wednesday he is “opposed to discrimination in any form,” but did not comment on a story that has turned out to be false that cited him as saying he would move his team out of North Carolina if state legislators failed to overturn a controversial law on LGBT rights.

However, a week ago, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver confirmed the league was willing to move to 2017 All-Star Game out of Charlotte for the very same reasons.

“As my organization has stated previously, the Charlotte Hornets and Hornets Sports & Entertainment are opposed to discrimination in any form, and we have always sought to provide an inclusive environment,” Jordan said in a statement to the Observer.

Jordan went on to say that, “As has been the case since the building opened, we will continue to ensure that all fans, players and employees feel welcome while at work or attending NBA games and events at Time Warner Cable Arena.”

Jordan's comments are an echo of what Hornets executives said about a month ago regarding the passing of House HB2, the North Carolina law which is discriminatory toward the LGBT community.

The highly controversial law calls on the removal of a Charlotte city ordinance that allowed members of the transgender community to use the public restroom that aligns with the gender with which they identity rather than the gender listed on their birth certificates.

But according to the Observer, the law continues to ignore the rights of gay people in spite of a recent court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.

But the law goes beyond that as it limits how people pursue claims of discrimination because of race, religion, color, national origin, biological sex or handicap in state courts, while also blocks setting a minimum wage standard for private employers.

HB2's introduction and quick signing into law by Republican Gov. Pat McCrory raised concerns from a wide variety of constituencies and organizations ... including the NBA, which issued a statement saying the league is "deeply concerned that this discriminatory law runs counter to our guiding principles of equality and mutual respect and do not yet know what impact it will have on our ability to successfully host the 2017 All-Star Game in Charlotte."

TeleSUR informs readers that the editorial staff deeply regrets having recently published a story on Jordan saying he would pull his NBA team out of North Carolina if the HB2 law was not reversed and gay rights were fully acknowledged.

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