Sen. Kelly Loeffler, a part-owner of the Atlanta Dream, has done everything she can to earn criticism from members of her WNBA team and others across the league.
She certainly did not ingratiate herself in July 2020, when she wrote a public letter to WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert, condemning the league’s support for Black Lives Matter.
Loeffler, who joined the Dream’s ownership in 2011, said in an interview with Fox News that armed Black protesters in Atlanta were practicing “mob rule.” She said protesters carrying firearms in public are an example of what will happen if we defund the police. The armed protesters gathered in June 2020 around a Wendy’s restaurant in Atlanta, where Rayshard Brooks, an unarmed Black man, was killed by police after falling asleep in the drive-through lane.
Loeffler’s remarks against the protesters, which contradict her stated unfettered support of the Second Amendment, drew the ire of several stars — including Sue Bird and Natasha Cloud. Cloud, one of the most outspoken athletes in sports, simply told Loeffler to “get her weak ass out of the league.”
In March 2020, reports surfaced that Sen. Kelly Loeffler was one of four U.S. senators who dumped their holdings following a Capitol Hill briefing — but before the stock market tanked — as the coronavirus crisis deepened. In May, she announced the U.S. Department of Justice dropped its investigation into her financial dealings.
All this controversy led some WNBA players, even members of the Dream, to actively campaign for Loeffler’s opponent in the November 2020 race for U.S. Senate, including by wearing T-shirts promoting his candidacy.
In September, Loeffler introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would ban transgender women and girls from competing in women’s sports, a bill backed by other senators including Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas, who also just happens to be running for re-election.
