Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri revealed on Friday that he had written a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver in which he “encouraged” the NBA to give players — who worked with the league to come up with phrases they could wear on their threads at the season restart — the choice to write messages on the backs of their jerseys that might include “Back the Blue,” “Support our Troops” or “God Bless America.”
“You have crossed the line of sanctioning specific political messages,” he added.
Hawley then shared a screenshot of a reply to press release his office sent that he received from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski in which the NBA reporter had replied, “(Expletive) you.”
Wojnarowski later responded with a tweet of his own, apologizing for his private reply that was made public by Hawley:
USA TODAY Sports reached out to the NBA league office earlier on Friday but didn’t hear back immediately.
