We all figured this day was coming.
But that doesn’t make it any less sweet.
As reported by ESPN on Tuesday night, Atlanta Dream co-owner and former Georgia Republican Senator Kelly Loeffler, Deadspin’s No. 1 idiot of 2020, will soon no longer be associated with the Dream.
The Atlanta Dream is close to being sold in a deal. According to the ESPN report, there are five bidders in the run to purchase the franchise. It is expected that Loeffler, who currently owns 49 percent of the team, will have no further association with the team once they are sold.
It’s glorious news for the WNBA, The Dream, and all sports fans looking to distance themselves from the actions of an owner and senator who clearly could care less about Black and Brown people in this country.
Last month, Loeffler literally posed for a picture with a Ku Klux Klansman who was sent to prison in 1993 for battery after beating a Black man.
Before she lost her Senate seat to Reverend Raphael Warnock, Salon reported that Loeffler ran a Facebook ad where her campaign spent nearly an extra $40,000 on an ad that darkened Warnock’s skin and called the reverend “dangerous,” along with being too “Radical.”
In July, she said she adamantly opposed the Black Lives Matter political movement and that acts supporting it were “totally misaligned with the values and goals of the WNBA and the Atlanta Dream.” Loeffler made these comments even though many of the players that help make her money were fearlessly using their platform to call out the injustices against Black people in this country in wake of the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Ahmaud Arbery. One of the players leading the charge is Atlanta Dream guard Renee Montgomery.
It’s no surprise that the players wanted her out. They had every right to call on her to sell the team after she refused to sympathize with the very people that contributed to her wealth.
In July, the WNBA Players Association called for Loeffler to be removed from ownership of her Atlanta franchise.
Once she refused to step down on her own, the players took matters into their own hands.
WNBA Players were instrumental in advocating for Warnock and were key factors in flipping the Senate in arguably the most pivotal Georgia Senate race ever. Players wore shirts, went to protests, and took to social media to persuade voters to vote for Warnock.
What those players did not only got Loeffler out of office, but likely got her removed from their league. What those players showed was courageous leadership. They stood for people who are less fortunate than them and stood up for what was right and just.
This is something Loeffler won’t know anything about. She dedicated her energy to silencing the voices of oppressed people in this nation and originally said she would oppose the results of a democratic election.
It took an insurrection by domestic terrorists on Capitol Hill for Loeffler to publicly change her stance.
Loeffler never deserved to be connected to the powerful women of the WNBA.
She stands for the suppression of marginalized voices and the WNBA will never be silent.
Good riddance Kelly Loeffler.
A Dream come true.