When it comes to the NBA Finals, we’re used to seeing an enormous contingent of celebrities seated courtside at the games — especially when the Los Angeles Lakers reach the Finals. It’s part of the spectacle.
This year, though, the coronavirus pandemic and NBA bubble setup in Orlando brought us an NBA Finals without fans actually in attendance. There would be no Drake exchanging barbs with players during timeouts. But Wednesday’s Game 1 of the NBA Finals did feature a star-studded group of “virtual” fans on the videoboard.
And that group was headlined by former President Barack Obama.
Fans noticed during the game that Obama was speaking to someone while watching from his virtual seat, and it turned out that he was on a Zoom-like call with the other attendees. On Thursday, we got to hear exactly what Obama had to say.
Last night, I surprised a group of first-time poll workers at the @NBA Finals. These @MoreThanAVote volunteers are stepping up to make sure this election runs safely and fairly in their communities –– and you can too by signing up to volunteer at https://t.co/Ge4XvvPwpW. pic.twitter.com/7RHB5dIzuE
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) October 1, 2020
Obama joined the call to surprise the celebrities and first-time poll workers. And when we saw him speaking, he was sharing his advice about registering to vote and volunteering for the general election that is already underway for early voting in several states.
“If people get involved, then we get the best of us,” Obama said while asking everyone to visit more.vote/next.
