{"id":651450,"date":"2026-03-10T19:36:29","date_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:36:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651450\/"},"modified":"2026-03-10T19:36:29","modified_gmt":"2026-03-10T19:36:29","slug":"nba-scraps-hawks-strip-club-promotion-after-concerns-from-fans-stakeholders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/651450\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA scraps Hawks\u2019 strip club promotion after concerns from fans, stakeholders\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

The NBA is canceling a controversial promotion involving the Atlanta Hawks and a prominent strip club, saying it heard concerns from fans and others across the league and believes the move is the \u201cright decision.\u201d <\/p>\n

The promotion had been scheduled<\/a> for March 16 as part of \u201cMagic City Monday,\u201d a partnership between the Hawks and Magic City, an Atlanta establishment that calls itself the city\u2019s premier strip club. The Hawks, though, avoided that label in social media\u00a0posts\u00a0and news releases, instead describing the venue as an \u201ciconic cultural institution.\u201d The team said the night would include the club\u2019s famous wings and newly designed \u201cMagic City\u201d merchandise,\u00a0as well as music from DJ Esco, a resident DJ at the club.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Hawks may have thought they could wink their way through the promotion since their opponent that night is the Orlando Magic, a team sharing the same name. But the plan quickly drew backlash after veteran center Luke Kornet of the Sacramento Kings spoke out and urged the team to cancel it. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we became aware of the Atlanta Hawks\u2019 scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks leadership to better understand their plans and rationale,\u201d NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. \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. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jami Gertz, the Hawks\u2019 principal owner, previously produced a Starz documentary about Magic City. The Hawks had invited fans to enter the arena early for a live podcast recording where the founder of Magic City, along with Gertz and others, would discuss the documentary and the \u201cimpact of the club on Atlanta music, sports and culture.\u201d <\/p>\n

The Hawks on Monday announced that the game will still feature wings \u2013 but that the merchandise and podcast recording have been scrapped. <\/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 Hawks said Monday. \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

Kornet, a devout Catholic, had asserted the promotion would \u201creflect poorly on the NBA.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cThe NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world,\u201d Kornet wrote in a blog. \u201cWe should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers and partners that we know and love. \u2026 Regardless of how a woman finds her way into the adult entertainment industry, many in this space experience abuse, harassment, and violence to which they should never be subjected.\u201d <\/p>\n

Others connected to the NBA, including former player Al Horford, sided with Kornet. <\/p>\n

\u201cWell said Luke,\u201d Horford wrote<\/a> in a social media post. <\/p>\n

(Image credit: X \/ @atlhawks)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The NBA is canceling a controversial promotion involving the Atlanta Hawks and a prominent strip club, saying it…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3776],"tags":[676,208,3874,7,677,20953,6,76,72888],"class_list":["post-651450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlanta","tag-atlanta-hawks","tag-atlantahawks","tag-basketball","tag-hawks","tag-magic-city","tag-nba","tag-orlando-magic","tag-strip-club"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116206566457106925","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651450","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=651450"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651450\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}