World-class ballerina Misty Copeland and actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson took to social media to oppose flattering comments made by the company’s founder and CEO about President Donald J. Trump.
On Tuesday, CEO Kevin Plank was highly complimentary of Trump in an interview on Tuesday with CNBC. Plank stated in part, “to have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country.”
Facing a growing backlash Wednesday, including a #BoycottUnderArmour hashtag on social media, the Baltimore-based company issued a statement in which it said, “We engage in policy, not politics.”
On an Instagram post on Thursday, Copeland, the first African American female principal dancer with the American Ballet Theater, said she spoke at length with Plank following his comments.
“I strongly disagree with Kevin Plank’s recent comments in support of Trump as recently reported,” Copeland wrote. “The one topic I’ve never backed away from speaking openly about is the importance of diversity and inclusion. It is imperative to me that my partners and sponsors share this belief.”
She added, “As someone who takes my responsibility as a role model very seriously, it is important to me that he, and UA, take public action to clearly communicate and reflect our common values in order for us to effectively continue to work towards our shared goal of trying to motivate ALL people to be their best selves.”
“I appreciate and welcome the feedback from the people who disagree (and agree) with Kevin Plank’s words on CNBC,” the 44-year-old actor and WWE superstar said in a statement posted to Twitter. “But these are neither my words, nor my beliefs. [Plank’s] words were divisive and lacking in perspective, inadvertently creating a situation where the personal political opinions of Under Armour’s partners and … employees were overshadowed by the comments of its CEO. … A good company is not solely defined by its CEO.”
Johnson used the hashtag “CommittedToThePeople.”
On Wednesday, Stephen Curry sarcastically responded to Plank’s assessment of Trump in interview with The Mercury News.
“I agree with that description,” Curry said, “if you remove the -et from ‘asset.'”
Curry told the newspaper that he spent much of Tuesday on the phone with Plank and others at Under Armour. According to The Mercury News, Plank told Curry the comments about Trump were meant “exclusively from a business perspective.”
Image courtesy Misty Copeland
