Mark Cuban: “National anthem doesn’t represent America”

Who does Anthem Maverick Mark Cuban represent? Certainly not his own grandparents

Multi-billionaire Mark Cuban briefly toyed with the idea of running for president in 2020. In a sports crazed nation, the Dallas Maverick’s owner might have generated some success, but dropped out before having to address the realities of running the nation and interacting on the world stage. Flirting with self aggrandizing notions and then dropping them is not the purview of ordinary Americans.

The day after Cuban announced he had no plans to play the national anthem at any future home games, reinforcing a decision he implemented last season, NBA Chief Communications Officer Mike Bass released this statement on Wednesday:

“With NBA teams now in the process of welcoming back fans into their arenas, all teams will play the national anthem in keeping with longstanding league policy.”

“We respect and always have respected the passion people have for the anthem and our country,” according to Cuban’s flawed rationale. “But we also loudly hear the voices of those who feel that the anthem does not represent them. We feel that their voices need to be respected and heard, because they have not been.”

“Our hope is that going forward people will take the same passion they have for this issue and apply the same amount of energy to listen to those who feel differently from them,” he said. “Then we can move forward and have courageous conversations that move this country forward and find what unites us.”

Cuban had previously expressed support for players kneeling during the national anthem, saying “if they were taking a knee and they were being respectful, I’d be proud of them. Hopefully I’d join them.”

The un-American concept is all the more outlandish coming from a man whose own grandparents were immigrants from repressive Russia and Romania. His Russian-born paternal grandfather anglicized the family name from “Chabenisky” to “Cuban.” No doubt they felt pride in being Americans and having the ability to live in freedom and opportunity. Cuban’s own father worked as an automobile upholsterer, who likely never dreamed his son would achieve such success in a country he now thumbs his nose at, for not being inclusive enough.