Posted on 05/18/2010 12:00:51 PM PDT by curth
Two fans were asked to leave the Phoenix Suns game last week after they wore Viva Los 1070″ shirts to the game.
Alex Pappas at The Daily Caller reported:
Two fans at a Phoenix Suns basketball game were ejected from their first row seats and removed from the arena last week after refusing orders from security guards to take off their shirts in support of Arizonas recently passed law against illegal immigration.
One of the fans, businessman Jim Clark, said he and a friend, who were wearing orange shirts that read Viva Los 1070, eventually were allowed to return to their seats during last Wednesdays game against the San Antonio Spurs after speaking with a security director.
This is not the first occurrence of politics creeping into the Suns basketball games: On Cinco de Mayo, team owner Robert Sarver came up with the idea for the team to wear Los Suns on their jerseys in protest of the immigration law. Thats what drove Clark to don his own shirt.
If theyre going to shove their politics down my throat, Im going make a message of my own, Clark told The Daily Caller.
The phrase Viva Los 1070 is in reference to the recently passed Arizona immigration law, Senate Bill 1070.
Hehehehe. I love it.
Viva Arizona Viva Farmers Branch
They were later allowed back in, received a round of applause from those in the area and given 4 tickets to each of the next 10 Suns home games.
I guess a major law suit and national publicity was averted by this gesture.
So patrons are no longer allowed to wear clothing in support of ESTABLISHED STATE LAW? They weren't "advertising" for a political piece of legislation, it'd already been signed into law.
Really a double standard when you think back to their May 5th shirt promotion.
How DARE they display personal freedom in such an anti-PC way!!
I say hire a lawyer and see if there are any grounds for a lawsuit for being asked to leave the facility.
If the visiting team can bring spirit wear, so can the home team.
National publicity?? -- Too late for that!
While in Arizona last week I heard an interview with the guy (I think on the Mark Levine show), the original offer was two tickets to the next game. The second offer (4 tickets/10 games) was accepted.
The Arizona legislature should have called it the “legal immigration bill”. Without doing that, they have allowed the press to define it.
Fans Escorted From Phoenix Suns Game For Wearing Viva Los Suns Shirts
The link does not show that as a headline. Nor does the story report it.
Headline at link: Two fans were asked to leave the Phoenix Suns game last week after they wore Viva Los 1070″ shirts to the game
Exactly. They can make a political statement at a game many might have already purchased tickets for, but their employers, the customers??? Oh no, we can't allow that!
But the shirt wasn’t even a “campaign” shirt any more than anyone wearing a pro-Bama shirt is campaigning. The bill is law.
True, but even if it were a current “campaign”, they still don’t have a very long leg to stand on. They make controversial political statements before a financially captive audience (with their “Los Suns” shirts) but prohibit statements on the same issue from that same audience?? I think not.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.