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NBA player Luke Kornet is objecting to the Atlanta Hawks paying tribute to the legendary Magic City nightclub.
According to a press release, the Hawks plan to celebrate the “iconic cultural institution” with a night filled with food, which includes the club’s famous lemon pepper wings.
“This collaboration and theme night is very meaningful to me after all the work that we did to put together ‘Magic City: An American Fantasy,'” Hawks principal owner Jami Gertz said. “The iconic Atlanta institution has made such an incredible impact on our city and its unique culture.”
<blockquote class=”twitter-tweet”><p lang=”en” dir=”ltr”>Magic on a Monday? 👀 <a href=”https://twitter.com/MagicCity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>@MagicCity</a> <a href=”https://t.co/xwWrGyVE20″>pic.twitter.com/xwWrGyVE20</a></p>— Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) <a href=”https://twitter.com/ATLHawks/status/2027060189606604916?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw”>February 26, 2026</a></blockquote> <script async src=”https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js” charset=”utf-8″></script>
Kornet is not a fan of the Hawks’ decision to honor the strip club because he feels it’s disrespectful to women, and feels the NBA should “protect and esteem women.”
“This week the Atlanta Hawks “announced a special one-night collaboration to celebrate the city’s iconic cultural institution Magic City” during the team’s home game against Orlando on Monday, March 16. In its press release the Hawks failed to acknowledge that this place is, as the business itself boasts, “Atlanta’s premier strip club.”
Given this fact, I would like to respectfully ask that the Atlanta Hawks cancel this promotional night with Magic City.The NBA should desire to protect and esteem women, many of whom work diligently every day to make this the best basketball league in the world. We should promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers, and partners that we know and love.Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.
While Kornet finds the promotion “disrespectful”, others believe it’s a genius marketing move by the Hawks.
The Atlanta Hawks partnering with Magic City is GENIUS pic.twitter.com/s71OaG0pFY
— mariah rose (@mariahcrose) February 26, 2026
The NBA has yet to react to Kornet’s comments.