Charles Barkley: NCAA Should Move Final Four Over Indiana Anti-Gay Law
Donn Marten
March 29, 2015
Former NBA star, sports analyst and political gadfly Charles Barkley has called for the NCAA to move next weekend’s Final Four championship out of Indianapolis due to a controversial new anti-gay law. SB 101, the so-called “Religious Freedom Restoration Act” was signed into law on Thursday by Indiana Governor Mike Pence in a private ceremony. It was transparent effort to pander to religious and social conservatives who should get a clue that they are being played for fools again. Pence, who is considering jumping into the 2016 Republican presidential fray has in the last few days watched in horror as the gambit has gone up like the proverbial bag of flaming dog shit in his hand.
The outcry began immediately after Pence signed the bill and is already causing economic damage to the state with the CEO of tech firm Salesforce cancelling employee trips to Indiana over the law. Popular crowd sourcing website Angie’s List has at least temporarily halted plans for a $40 million campus expansion and organizers of the GENCOM gaming convention were threatening to abort plans for their Indianapolis convention. To rub rock salt into the wound of cloaking discrimination in the guise of “religious freedom” The Disciples of Christ are also talking about pulling out of their 2017 Indy convention. It is now a slowly developing nightmare for Pence and his dreams of that White House run are rapidly dissipating.
Not only are businesses balking at the law – gay folks do tend to spend money – but celebrities are speaking out as well and in a land where celebrity is the coin of the realm their words can be very damaging. The mercurial Barkley blasted the new law on Friday and called for the NCAA to pull the Final Four.
As reported by the Washington Post in the story “Charles Barkley says NCAA should move Final Four games out of Indiana because of anti-gay law”:
Charles Barkley called on the NCAA to move the location of its Final Four basketball games from Indiana in response to a recently enacted state law that allows businesses to reject gay customers on the basis of “religious freedom.”
“Discrimination in any form is unacceptable to me,” Barkley said in a statement sent by his agent to USA Today on Friday. “As long as anti-gay legislation exists in any state, I strongly believe big events such as the Final Four and Super Bowl should not be held in those states’ cities.”
NCAA President Mark Emmert voiced his concern over the Indiana law on Thursday.
“The NCAA national office and our members are deeply committed to providing an inclusive environment for all our events,” he said in a statement. “We are especially concerned about how this legislation could affect our student-athletes and employees.”
Despite his concerns, however, he made no indication that the NCAA planned to move the two Final Four games slated to be held in Indianapolis during this year’s tournament on April 4.
Others calling for the NCAA to move the tournament’s finale include former MSNBC liberal firebrand Keith Olbermann who decried the law as “medieval”. Also speaking out against the law are George Takei who gained fame as Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu and former Indiana Pacers great Reggie Miller. Despite the imbroglio and ugly media scrum there is really no way for the NCAA to do anything this late due to time, logistics and most importantly – money. The law if not amended or reversed though will likely play into the decisions of sports leagues to hold their big events in Indianapolis in the future.
Governor Pence prowled the Sunday morning McNews circuit today where he bobbed and weaved in what will prove to be an ultimately futile attempt at damage control. The fact is that his short-sighted political chicanery has come back to bite him in the ass big time already and that fire that has been lighted under him will only get hotter as more businesses and celebrities react.
