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Athletes react to Donald Trump winning the US election

ATHLETES from Australia and across the globe made some controversial stands after Donald Trump’s election win.

James Matthey
5 min read
November 10, 2016 - 10:07AM
Yep, this really happened.
Yep, this really happened.

NO, it wasn’t a dream.

You can rub your eyes all you want, splash cold water on your face or heck, even have a shot (or two) of whiskey when you hop out of bed this morning, but it won’t change anything.

Donald Trump will be the next President of the United States of America.

We’ve seen some upsets this year, but this is the biggest of the lot. The Western Bulldogs broke a premiership drought of more than half a century in the AFL, the Sharks won their first NRL comp in their history and the Chicago Cubs prompted a flood of tears from supporters who saw their side claim the World Series for the first time in 108 years. And how can we forget Leicester City.

But Trump’s victory is arguably a bigger shock than all of these events combined, and it had the sporting world abuzz. Take a look at how athletes around the world reacted to the 70-year-old’s incredible win.

‘IT’S ACTUALLY REAL! HOLY MOTHER EFFER!!!!’

SUFFICE it to say, plenty of those who get paid to entertain sports fans were in disbelief at how election night unfolded over in the land of fried food and Budweiser. Former England cricket captain Kevin Pietersen was one of them.

US STARS REACT

IF that’s how upset KP was, imagine how badly some of the US stars took it. From the NFL, to the NBA to MLB, nobody was short of expressing an opinion on the biggest political upset in history.

Golden State gun Steph Curry showed whose side he was on when he praised American political commentator Van Jones, who called the outcome a “nightmare” and a “white-lash” against a black president and against a changing America.

Curry’s great rival LeBron James posted Kendrick Lamar’s song Alright on his Instagram account along with an emotional caption assuring people the future was not doomed.

“As I woke up today looking and searching for answers on what has happened this song hit it right on the head! If we continue the faith (as hard as it may be to do so) we will BE ALRIGHT!!” James wrote.

“Parents and leaders of our children please let them know they can still change the world for the better! Don’t lose a bit of faith! They’re our future and we must remain stronger than ever!! Yes we all wanna lace up the boots, put on the hard hats and strike but that’s not the answer.

“Love, genuine LOVE and FAITH will be the only thing that can get us through this. Minorities and women in all please know that this isn’t the end, it’s just a very challenging obstacle that we will overcome!!

“The man above will never put something in our paths that we can handle no matter how difficult it may feel/be! To all the youth out there I PROMISE I’ll continue to lead u (sic) guys.”

But LeBron and Curry weren’t the only ones praying for calm.

IT’S NOT ALL HATE

BUT while criticism was prevalent, the overriding emotion seemed to be one of sheer disbelief. There were also those — like golfer John Daly — who were thrilled to see the polarising businessman book his ticket to the White House in 2017.

Others just wanted people to realise democracy had run its course, and instead of bickering, America should get on with the job trying to ensure its status (though somewhat self-appointed) as the greatest country on Earth remained in tact.

OVERSEAS REACTION

IT wasn’t just in the US that athletes were getting fired up. Former Kangaroo and Wallaby Wendell Sailor called Trump’s win “a disgrace”, while footballers, a former tennis star and another ex-cricketer also had their say.

Some, like New Englands Patriot coach Bill Belichick, were less interested in commenting on Trump.

NBA COACH’S EPIC SIX-MINUTE TRUMP RANT

Dropping bombs.
Dropping bombs.

DETROIT Pistons coach Stan Van Gundy has launched into an epic six-minute rant to express his disgust at Donald Trump and the voting public in the United States.

Speaking ahead of the Pistons’ game against the Suns in Phoenix on Thursday afternoon (AEDT), the disciple of legendary NBA coach Pat Riley called the new president elect of the United States a “racist” and outlined a series of disturbing issues he has with the direction the country is heading in.

“I don’t think anybody can deny this guy is openly and brazenly racist and misogynistic and ethnic-centric,” he said.

“And (then people) say, ‘That’s OK with us, we’re going to vote for him anyway’.

“We have just thrown a good part of our population under the bus, and I have problems with thinking that this is where we are as a country.

“Our society has said, ‘No, we think you should be second-class citizens. We want you to be second-class citizens. And we embrace a guy who is openly misogynistic as our leader.’ I don’t know how we get past that.

“Martin Luther King said, ‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but bends toward justice.’ I would have believed in that for a long time, but not today. What we have done to minorities in this election is despicable.

“I’m having a hard time dealing with it. This isn’t your normal candidate. I don’t know even know if I have political differences with him. I don’t even know what are his politics. I don’t know, other than to build a wall and ‘I hate people of colour, and women are to be treated as sex objects and as servants to men.’ I don’t know how you get past that. I don’t know how you walk into the booth and vote for that.

“I understand problems with the economy. I understand all the problems with Hillary Clinton, I do. But certain things in our country should disqualify you. And the fact that millions and millions of Americans don’t think that racism and sexism disqualifies you to be our leader, in our country. We presume to tell other countries about human-rights abuses and everything else. We better never do that again, when our leaders talk to China or anybody else about human-rights abuses.

“It’s embarrassing. I have been ashamed of a lot of things that have happened in this country, but I can’t say I’ve ever been ashamed of our country until today. Until today. We all have to find our way to move forward, but that was — and I’m not even trying to make a political statement. To me, that’s beyond politics.”

Van Gundy also highlighted issues he saw in the way conservative voters were drawn to Trump.

“And then you read how he was embraced by conservative Christians,” he said.

“Evangelical Christians. I’m not a religious guy, but what the hell Bible are they reading? I’m dead serious. What Bible are you reading? And you’re supposed to be — it’s different. There are a lot of different groups we can be upset at. But you’re Christians. You’re supposed to be — at least you pride yourself on being the moral compass of our society. And you said, ‘Yeah, the guy can talk about women like that. I’m fine with that.’ He can disparage every ethnic group, and I’m fine with that.”

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Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/basketball/nba/athletes-react-to-donald-trump-winning-the-us-election/news-story/dff6c2b775bf4b426042b4f52f3e3bf8