{"id":650036,"date":"2026-03-10T02:53:32","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:53:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/650036\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T02:53:32","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T02:53:32","slug":"nba-cancels-hawks-magic-city-night-promotion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/650036\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA cancels Hawks’ Magic City Night promotion"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA canceled the Atlanta Hawks\u2019 planned Magic City Night promotion<\/a> Monday, citing widespread concern from across the league about the event\u2019s ties to the city\u2019s well-known strip club, according to a report on ESPN.com.<\/a><\/p>\n

The Hawks had scheduled the March 16 home game against the Orlando Magic as a tribute night honoring Magic City, a strip club long embedded in Atlanta\u2019s hip-hop and celebrity culture. The team described the venue as an \u201ciconic cultural institution\u201d when it announced the event last month, and had planned a lineup that included Magic City\u2019s lemon pepper wings, exclusive merchandise, and a halftime performance by Atlanta rapper T.I.<\/p>\n

I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.<\/p>\n

NBA commissioner adam silver<\/p>\n

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said the league moved in after hearing from a range of stakeholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we appreciate the team\u2019s perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners, and employees,\u201d Silver said in a statement. \u201cI believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hawks said they were disappointed but would abide by the league\u2019s decision<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we are very disappointed in the NBA\u2019s decision to cancel our Magic City Night promotion, we fully respect its decision,\u201d the team said. \u201cAs a franchise, we remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta \u2013 with authenticity \u2013 in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s still on for March 16<\/p>\n

Not everything is off. T.I. will still perform at halftime, and the Hawks said wings will be available at State Farm Arena \u2014 though the team did not specify whether that includes the Magic City-branded lemon pepper wings the event had promoted. Pre-ordered merchandise will be delivered to customers, but the Magic City-themed hoodie won\u2019t be sold at the game.<\/p>\n

A planned live podcast recording featuring Hawks primary owner Jami Gertz, T.I., and Magic City founder Michael Barney has also been scrapped.<\/p>\n

Criticism from inside the league<\/p>\n

The most prominent public pushback came from San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet, who published a blog post on March 2<\/a> urging the Hawks to cancel the event. Kornet argued the NBA should not promote a strip club and cited concerns about the treatment of women in the adult entertainment industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn its press release, the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, \u2018Atlanta\u2019s premier strip club,’\u201d Kornet wrote. He called on the team to cancel the night \u201cto ensure that the NBA remains a safe, respectful, and welcoming environment for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NBA did not name Kornet specifically in its statement, saying only that it heard from a \u201cbroad array\u201d of stakeholders.<\/p>\n

Gertz\u2019s connection to Magic City<\/p>\n

The Hawks\u2019 ties to the club run deeper than a one-night promotion. Gertz, who is also a filmmaker and actor, produced \u201cMagic City: An American Fantasy,\u201d a five-part docuseries exploring the club\u2019s history, its place in Black and hip-hop culture, and what it means to Atlanta.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis collaboration and theme night is very meaningful to me after all the work that we did to put together \u2018Magic City: An American Fantasy,’\u201d Gertz said when the promotion was first announced.<\/p>\n

Magic City has come up in NBA news before. In 2020, then-Los Angeles Clippers guard Lou Williams was photographed at the club while on an approved leave from the NBA\u2019s Orlando bubble, a trip he said was to pick up food. The club has a menu item, the \u201cLouwill Lemon Pepper BBQ\u201d<\/a> wings, named after him. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA canceled the Atlanta Hawks\u2019 planned Magic City Night promotion Monday, citing widespread concern from across the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627786,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3779],"tags":[208,7,24319,4996,48,20953,6,47,76,3883,474,82409],"class_list":{"0":"post-650036","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-orlando-magic","8":"tag-atlanta-hawks","9":"tag-basketball","10":"tag-jami-gertz","11":"tag-luke-kornet","12":"tag-magic","13":"tag-magic-city","14":"tag-nba","15":"tag-orlando","16":"tag-orlando-magic","17":"tag-orlandomagic","18":"tag-san-antonio-spurs","19":"tag-t-i"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116202623807179782","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=650036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/650036\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627786"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=650036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=650036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=650036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}