After a backlash for not playing the national anthem for matches, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban said he did not “cancel” the song that has become the subject of social protests in recent years after it was a staple of World War I. sporting events.
Cuban told ESPN’s “The Jump” that the team was in constant discussion about whether or not to play “The Star Spangled Banner,” but that “we probably would have played it at some point when fans came back.”
However, the national anthem was not played at the Dallas arena on Monday night, when some fans were personally invited to watch the game in person for the first time this season.
Until then, it was not documented that Cuban had told the team to stop playing “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the American Airlines Center before the season.
On Wednesday, the NBA said all teams should play the national anthem.
The Mavericks played the national anthem for Wednesday’s game and all the players appeared to be standing. Several fans cheered afterwards.
“We have not canceled the national anthem,” Cuban said before the tip on ESPN. “We still had our flag proudly on the wall at the American Airlines Center and everyone had the opportunity to address it and pray for it or greet it or whatever their feelings are.”
The 62-year-old Pittsburgh resident added that, “when listening to the community, there were quite a few people who expressed concern, in fact, their fear that the national anthem didn’t fully represent them, that their voices were not being heard. “
The NBA has in recent years refused to enforce a rule requiring players to stand for the national anthem, in the wake of athletes from all sports who kneel in it in protest against social injustices.
Cuban wasn’t the first to try to cut the national anthem. In 1954, then Baltimore Orioles general manager Arthur Ehlers stopped playing the song before every game because “it tends to cash in on the song and lessen the tension of the response,” he said, according to The Washington Post.
Ehlers later admitted.