One day after Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank called President Donald Trump a "real asset" for U.S. companies, one of his company's most important pitchmen shot back.
"I agree with that description," Golden State Warriors star and Under Armour endorser Stephen Curry told The Mercury News on Wednesday, "if you remove the 'et' " from asset. Get it? OK, good.
Under Armour said in a statement Wednesday that it engages in "policy, not poltics," and Curry said the message, which touts its diversity, reflects "what he believed to be true about Plank and Under Armour."
Still, Curry, whose contract with the company runs through 2024, said he was surprised to see Plank praising Trump, based on what he knew about the CEO. He said Plank explained to him that his comments about the president were related to his business interests and not about his controversial policy decisions. That's important to Curry.
"It's a fine line but it's about how we're operating, how inclusive we are, what we stand for," Curry told The Mercury News. "He's the president. There are going to be people that are tied to them. But are we promoting change? Are we doing things that are going to look out for everybody? And not being so self-serving that it's only about making money, selling shoes, doing this and that. That's not the priority. It's about changing lives. I think we can continue to do that."
Under Armour has given Curry a signature shoe and a platform that Nike was once unwilling to offer, but he said that if he feels the company and Plank represent ideals unaligned with his — unsurprisingly, Curry did not vote for Trump — he would be willing to sever ties.
"If I can say the leadership is not in line with my core values, then there is no amount of money, there is no platform I wouldn't jump off if it wasn't in line with who I am," he said. "So that's a decision I will make every single day when I wake up. If something is not in line with what I'm about, then, yeah, I definitely need to take a stance in that respect."