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The NBA's Atlanta Hawks will not be permitted to celebrate a strip club at an upcoming home game.
The team's "Magic City Monday" game against the Orlando Magic was set for March 16 in an effort to celebrate local nude dancing venue Magic City with wings, musical performances, and podcasts.
'Can we just not be tied to a strip club?'
While multiple Hawks executives promoted the night — and the strip club — as a celebration of Atlanta's cultural fabric, the promotion drew ire from at least a couple of NBA players, including San Antonio Spurs player Luke Kornet, who asked the league to protect women, not denigrate them.
Despite the Hawks telling the New York Post that the event will go on as planned and Magic City telling TMZ there would be no nudity at the arena, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced on Monday the league was canceling the event.
"When we became aware of the Atlanta Hawks' scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks leadership to better understand their plans and rationale," Silver wrote, per NBA Communications.
Silver went on, "While we appreciate the team's 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," the commissioner concluded.
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The Hawks told TMZ in response that they are "very disappointed in the NBA's decision to cancel our Magic City Night promotion."
Although they respect the league's decision, the team added that they remain committed to "celebrating the best of Atlanta — with authenticity — in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together."
The team will still move forward with a performance by rapper T.I. on the night in question, though.
Magic City, on the other hand, did not complain, said it was "hyped to team up with the Hawks," and that it was "an honor just getting picked" by the team for a celebration.
RELATED: Atlanta Hawks strip club promotion called out by Catholic NBA player: 'Protect and esteem women'
Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Fox Sports Radio personality Rob Parker said on Monday that he disagreed with the decision to cancel the promotion and asked why the themed night would be announced in the first place if the NBA was going to cancel it.
"Horrible public relations by the NBA to cave; 100%. Never should have got to the stage of this without the league at least signing off on something of this magnitude. I don't believe that people are doing their own thing and the NBA doesn't know anything is going on," Parker said on "The Odd Couple" show.
Parker said that he largely disagreed with the cancellation because people had already bought their tickets and because the Hawks were planning to celebrate a legal establishment.
"The league probably had no real position on it until all the pushback started, and then that's when the league got involved," he added.
Co-host Kelvin Washington disagreed, saying, "The NBA is a massive corporation, billions and billions of dollars that's tied to other massive corporations."
"I'm not shocked the Hawks wanted to do this and went ahead. I kept telling you I was shocked the NBA was OK with them doing this," Washington said.
"Magic City, for you to say 'this institution' — and actually it is in Atlanta — but it is also, at the end of the day, a strip club," Washington put it bluntly.
"Like, that's what it is," Washington concluded.
"The NBA may want to say, and their sponsors say, 'Eh, can we just not be tied to a strip club?'"
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