Just a week after Nike appeared to bow to Chinese authorities’ demands, halting the sale of a range of sports shoes in China after its Japanese designer showed support for Hong Kong protests in an Instagram post; the sportswear company has been implicitly banned from Arizona after nixing the launch of its “Betsy Ross Flag” sneakers after former football player Colin Kaepernick complained.
As The Wall Street Journal reports, the sneaker giant created the Air Max 1 USA in celebration of the July Fourth holiday, and it was slated to go on sale this week.
The heel of the shoe featured a U.S. flag with 13 white stars in a circle, a design created during the American Revolution and commonly referred to as the Betsy Ross flag.
After shipping the shoes to retailers, Nike asked for them to be returned without explaining why, the people said. The shoes aren’t available on Nike’s own apps and websites.
“Nike has chosen not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag,” a Nike spokeswoman said.
After images of the shoe were posted online, Mr. Kaepernick, a Nike endorser, reached out to company officials saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag is an offensive symbol because of its connection to an era of slavery, the people said.
Some users on social media responded to posts about the shoe with similar concerns. Mr. Kaepernick declined to comment.
And it appears Nike’s virtue-signaling has already had serious consequences, as Arizona Governor Doug Ducey unleashed an angry tweet-storm, pulling financial support for the sports megalith.
Today was supposed to be a good day in Arizona, with the announcement of a major @Nike investment in Goodyear, AZ.
[Nike was expected to build a new multimillion-dollar plant in the Phoenix suburb of Goodyear. The facility would employ more than 500 workers within five years of opening, according to a report in the Arizona Republic.]
And then this news broke yesterday afternoon.
Words cannot express my disappointment at this terrible decision. I am embarrassed for Nike.
Nike is an iconic American brand and American company. This country, our system of government and free enterprise have allowed them to prosper and flourish.
Instead of celebrating American history the week of our nation’s independence, Nike has apparently decided that Betsy Ross is unworthy, and has bowed to the current onslaught of political correctness and historical revisionism.
It is a shameful retreat for the company. American businesses should be proud of our country’s history, not abandoning it.
Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here.
Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don’t need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation’s history.
And finally, it shouldn’t take a controversy over a shoe for our kids to know who Betsy Ross is. A founding mother. Her story should be taught in all American schools. In the meantime, it’s worth googling her.
So, it’s clear that Nike’s “foreign policy” means ignoring ‘the resistance’ in Hong Kong (cow-towing to the totalitarian Chinese government who control access to all those middle-class Chinese citizens for Nike) but cowtow to ‘the resistance’ in America in a virtue-signaling extravaganza.
But, there is a silver lining as WSJ notes that at least some of the USA-themed shoes have already made their way to sneaker enthusiasts. Versions of the Air Max 1 USA were changing hands on sneaker-reselling site StockX for as much as $2,500 this morning, according to the site.
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Its not an OLD VERSION…..its the ORIGINAL VERSION.
It is the ONLY version of the flag I will fly. Though slavery was legal, we were still a republic, and not a totalitarian empire.
The best part of this story is that it provides yet another example of the hypocrisy of the SJW crowd for all to see.
Kapernickersinabumch says: “Shoes must be removed because they might be seen as offensive, but even though some might see me as offensive, I must continue to earn millions form Nike.”
It’s too bad that The Donald doesn’t raise the tariffs on foreign-source shoes to about 10000%. We’d be rid of Nike and their “wokeness” charades; unless, of course, they decided to build a factory here. I haven’t owned anything Nike since I was a teenager, when I discovered that if I didn’t want the constant plague of killer ingrown toenails, I had better not wear Nike sneakers. The only bad but still amusing side to this would be jigaboos killing even more people over a $250,000 pair of sneakers
Nike is scheduled to build a 500 employee factory in Arizona. The Governor there is now trying to stop the incentives they were offered to build there over this issue. What a maroon! Take the jobs and their tax money. THAT is the best revenge and best opportunity to influence.
500 employees usually amounts to about 50. If they did get to 500 the only benefit to taxpayers would be higher taxes and more traffic.
If you believe these kinds of deals are good for citizens you don’t have a very good understanding of how modern American government works. Or why the country in large part is turning into a massive shit hole.
As the solar minimum intensifies bringing global famine upon us, we have kneegrows spending $2500 on a $10 pair of shoes. Remember those priorities and enjoy the stupidity.
I think they cost $14 to make
Go global, to increase you market; then start alienating different regions/countries to…do what, exactly?
Does current economic class education cause brain damage?
It’s time to take a knife to the shoelaces the next time I’m at a retailer.
Sabatoge is more effective then boycotts as the Yellow Vests have shown.
How ’bout a “San Fransicko treat”?
Take a shit in a display pair of N(egroes) I(n) K(onstant) E(cstasy) footwear at your favourite anti-Caucasian retailer.
When that arrogant, ignorant dickhead who I refuse to call by any other name decided to take a knee, and subsequently wear kill-a-cop socks, one NFL owner said “fuck that guy.”
Blackballed, from ever playing an NFL game again, and deservedly so. And Nike hires him.
We had black men protesting his treatment, outside the stadium at every home game in Detroit.
Imagine that.
Well, fuck them, too.
To AZ Gov. Ducey, way to go.
I see someone wearing that brand, I’d say you support a progressive pussified hive of rotten bitches & bastards.
If I had money to burn, I’d find a pair of those shoes, drop a deuce inside them, box them up, and ship them back to Nike Corporate.
They shit the bed yet again.
Hope China shuts down the cheap slave labor camps Nike has subcontracted there, and sales tank.
Fuck the swoosh.
Those socks he wore were the “Pigs” from “Fritz the Cat” who were Jewish in that animated film. What a dilemma for certain folks hereabouts. Kaepernick, hero or zero? Prog Porch Monkey or Storm Fronter? Most serious debate since the Council of Trent to follow. LOL!
I wish I had read your post first. I love the “delivery” message to corporate.
Also, great service mark phrase there: “Fuck The Swoosh”(C).
Deserves a copywrite.
Kaepernick spoke, with his hair all a-fly and shit, causing every male pussy at Nike to get wet.
Why would anyone care about what offends the Kneeling Colon?
Get woke go broke. Where is Nike’s leadership and why are they taking orders from a multimillionaire mulatto who was never a slave?
Capercunt…belongs to a religion that fucks people in a myriad of ways.
Capercunt forgets that we don’t give a fuck about him .
NIKE is pure evil …. using virtual slave labor ….. to make a few elite niggers very rich (like Michael Jordan and ilk) …. because many mostly poor niggers will spend $200 and more for a fucken pair of sneakers.
Long live Converse!!