When Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank showered President Trump with compliments for being “pro-business,” all eyes turned to the company’s face, Steph Curry.
Earlier this week Plank called President Trump “an asset for this country.” Even though it was Plank who made the comments, attention immediately shifted Under Armour’s prize athlete, two-time NBA MVP Steph Curry, to see what he had to say.
Curry does not have a history of making political statements, but he did let his guard down momentarily to comment. When the Mercury News asked what he thought of Plank calling Trump an “asset,” Curry responded:
“I agree with that description, if you remove the ‘et’ ”from asset.”
But Curry had more that witty one-liners to offer. The Golden State Warriors star offered some serious statements on he felt about Under Armour as a company. He also didn’t rule out the possibility of parting ways with them if they ever fell out of line with his own personal views.
Curry on his conversations with Under Armour after Plank’s statement:
“I spent all day yesterday on the phone with countless people at Under Armour, countless people in Kevin Plank’s camp, my team, trying to understand what was going on and where everybody stood on the issue. Based off the release that KP sent out this morning, and what he told me last night, that’s the Under Armour that I know. That’s the brand I know he’s built and one that, as of Wednesday afternoon, is something that I’m standing on.”
Curry on Plank’s follow-up statement saying he’s talking strictly from a business perspective and does not condone Trump racist rhetoric:
“It’s a fine line but it’s about how we’re operating, how inclusive we are, what we stand for. He’s the President. There are going to be people that are tied to them. But are we promoting change? Are we doing things that are going to look out for everybody? And not being so self-serving that it’s only about making money, selling shoes, doing this and that. That’s not the priority. It’s about changing lives. I think we can continue to do that.”
Curry on possibly leaving Under Armour:
“If there is a situation where I can look at myself in the mirror and say they don’t have my best intentions, they don’t have the right attitude about taking care of people. If I can say the leadership is not in line with my core values, then there is no amount of money, there is no platform I wouldn’t jump off if it wasn’t in line with who I am. So that’s a decision I will make every single day when I wake up. If something is not in line with what I’m about, then, yeah, I definitely need to take a stance in that respect.
“I feel like if you know who I am, you know what I stand for, and I can live with that. I feel when you see my name, when you see people wearing my stuff, when you see anybody attached to me, that they share that same passion for people that I do. And that’s what I’ve been really serious about using this platform to share. I don’t get in people’s faces and out in the streets with a bullhorn doing it that way. But every opportunity I have to show love, to show respect, to show just that positivity, I feel like that’s my job and that’s what I stand for.”
Photo: Screenshot
