On Thursday (Aug. 27), Jared Kushner responded to the NBA boycott on Wednesday night’s games (Aug. 26) in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake. Kushner’s interview with CNBC’s “Squawk Box” aired as NBA teams and officials were debating whether or not to end the entire season to stand in solidarity with social justice reform.
“Look, I think that the NBA players are very fortunate that they have the financial position where they’re able to take a night off from work without having to have the consequences to themselves financially,” Kushner — who is the senior advisor to his father-in-law Donald Trump — said. “So they have that luxury, which is great.”
He added, “Look, I think with the NBA — there’s a lot of activism — and I think that they’ve put a lot of slogans out. But I think what we need to do is turn that from slogans and signals to actual action that’s going to solve the problem.”
Kushner praised Trump for signing a bipartisan criminal justice reform bill into law, championing school choice and more. Later Thursday morning (Aug. 27), he doubled down on his comments while speaking with Politico.
“Again, they have the luxury of taking a night off from work — most Americans don’t have the financial luxury to do that,” Kushner said. “I think that it’s nice that they’re standing up for the issue, but I’d like to see them start moving into concrete solutions that are productive.”
Kushner also said that the White House would be open to working with LeBron James — who has been both a vocal proponent of social justice reform and spearheaded several of his own initiatives. When asked if he’s reached out to James, Kushner said he would do so later today.
“If LeBron James reached out to the White House or the White House reached out him, we’d be happy to talk to him and say, ‘Look, let’s both agree on what we want to accomplish and let’s come up with a common pathway to get there,’” he said.
After postponing Wednesday night’s games (Aug. 26) to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake, the NBA will reportedly resume its postseason, despite the Los Angeles Lakers and Los Angeles Clippers voting for a season-long boycott. Thursday’s games will also be postponed and play is reportedly expected to resume on Friday (Aug. 28).