The shoe brand Converse has apologized after social media users accused the company of putting out a “racist” advertisement.
The ad in question, which shows K-pop singer Karina wearing a skirt and holding a pair of Chuck 70 X sneakers, caused controversy as critics accused the company of promoting the KKK and lynching.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Converse apologizes for ad compared to KKK, lynching.
Details: <a href="https://t.co/5V78A1PhZY">https://t.co/5V78A1PhZY</a> <a href="https://t.co/4vewFSYNcs">pic.twitter.com/4vewFSYNcs</a>
— TMZ (@TMZ) <a href="https://x.com/TMZ/status/2101087656457142650?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 18, 2026</a></blockquote>
“How any American who is remotely educated can look at this horrifying ad &amp; not see a klan hood and the feet of a hanging body…makes me speechless,” one person <a href="https://x.com/NanaSueSpeaks/status/2101137347966304613">said</a>, echoing what many others were saying. 
&#8220;No, you’re not crazy. Yes, the Converse ad is racist. Yes, it looks like a Klan outfit. Yes, it looks like a lynching. And no, &#8216;it’s just a shoe ad&#8217; is not a defense,&#8221; another popular comment <a href="https://x.com/rabbitSZN2/status/2100765192816869830">said</a>.
The backlash got so bad that Converse released an apology via social media.
“We’re sorry,” the Boston-based company said in the statement, per ABC 7. “We understand why this image is deeply upsetting and recognize that we got this wrong. We removed it from our channels and are working to remove it everywhere it appeared. This should not have happened and we will do better.”
Karina has yet to release a public statement, but followers have also targeted her for participating in the photo shoot, even though she didn&#8217;t know what the final ad would look like. Several users have referenced the original, uncropped photo to defend her involvement.
Plenty of people are wondering what all the fuss is about.
“When you look hard enough, you find racism in everything,” one X commenter <a href="https://x.com/Daearentv/status/2101714307516191052">observed</a>.
“It&#8217;s not about reality. It&#8217;s about the reality that the Party tells you exists,” another person agreed.
The Converse brand launched in 1908 and is best known for the popular Chuck Taylor All Star sneaker. Converse is now owned by Nike.
This incident comes on the heels of Target yanking a so-called racist costume from shelves after followers started freaking out about it.
Photos of the costume, which was called “Kids’ Glows under Blacklight Circus Clown,” showed a young black child modeling the outfit. The costume included a black-and-orange printed bodysuit and hood with an oversized smile and a mini top hat.
The listing and photos led customers to compare the costume to blackface performances from the Jim Crow era.
&#8220;We removed an offensive Halloween costume that should never have been part of our assortment,” Target wrote in a statement last month, as The Daily Wire previously <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-pulls-halloween-costume-after-customers-call-it-racist-you-have-to-see-it">reported</a>. “It is no longer for sale. As a company, we got this wrong, and we are deeply sorry.”

Converse

Converse Apologizes For ‘Racist’ Ad, Promises To ‘Do Better’

cancel culture

converse

lifestyle

nike

racism controversy

target

After 18 years in the S&amp;P 100, Nike is out. The company will be removed from the index of the largest, most stable U.S. mega-caps before the market opens on September 21. The company is still large. It is no longer stable.
From its 2021 stock-price high, Nike has fallen about 78%. It lost close to 80% of its market capitalization in five years. In the Fortune 100, it has hung on by a thread: it entered at number 91 in 2016, peaked at 83 in 2022, and barely made it in this year at number 99.
Fiscal 2026 revenue landed at $46.4 billion — still the biggest athletic brand on earth by a long shot. Adidas is second at a little more than half that. Nike’s peak revenue was just two years ago at $51.36 billion in 2024. Nike has already shed about $5 billion, or 10%, since then.
The climb took decades. The fall has been swift.
It would be easy and pat to say the company went woke and went broke. That’s true. And it is both more complicated and less complicated than that. It’s hubris. Which manifested throughout the organization.
The warning signs were visible to anyone paying attention. Gross margin for fiscal 2024 ticked up to 44.6% but only because freight costs dropped, not because the brand was stronger or had more pricing power. That freight-cost luck masked, for a moment, the decline already underway.
Nike Direct to Consumer (their own stores and website) margins were already in a downswing. An inventory glut forced heavy discounting — the classic retail doom loop.
Leadership knew it. The panic was underway.
The deeper problem was product. For decades Nike’s edge was innovation. Then it over-indexed on financial engineering, digital metrics, and recycling old franchise products — Air Force 1s and Jordans — instead of creating new performance products and running shoes. They assumed product leadership was forever, but it requires constant attention. They took their eye off the ball.
And the Hoka and On Running brands start to eat Nike’s lunch with innovation.
Nike got boring, which is the kiss of death. They thought they could milk the customer for higher-priced goods without any newness. They were wrong.
By summer 2024, the cracks produced a disastrous earnings report and a 19% single-day stock crash that wiped out $28 billion in market cap. CEO John Donahoe, the eBay guy who preferred digital optimization and “adapting” versus innovating and brand-building, was out later that year. He was always the wrong choice for the iconic brand that created an entire category and lifestyle.
For decades, every apparel company envied Nike. Product, branding, athlete dominance — no one else could touch it. That era ended in a pile of unforced errors.
Nike pulled out of mainstream wholesale — Amazon, DSW, the places regular people actually buy sneakers — to chase a higher-margin direct-to-consumer business and a customer it preferred: richer, more “progressive,” less normie. It overproduced what used to be scarce “collabs” and wrecked the scarcity that made those drops feel special.
It leaned too hard on China and watched that market grind lower quarter after quarter.
And while the cultural piece is real – “Go woke, go broke” – it is not the whole story. It is reflective of the broader issue: being out of touch with their consumer, being elitist, and thinking they (the brand) always know best. Pulling out of mainstream distribution where regular folks buy shoes – because it wasn’t cool enough – is the manifestation of being out of touch.
The taint started earlier in a decidedly un-woke fashion: they fired Olympic champion Allyson Felix because she was pregnant, then Mary Cain came forward about mental and physical abuse when she trained in the running club Nike ran called the Oregon Project. The allegations led to the coach&#8217;s firing and the club being shut down. And ultimately were a major factor in former star CEO Mark Parker’s exit. Those were not “woke.” They were the opposite, in fact.
Then Nike went all-in on leftie politics: Colin Kaepernick, COVID advertising, “trans” influencer Dylan Mulvaney as brand ambassador for running bras. Founder Phil Knight retired as chairman emeritus in 2016. Maybe that was when common sense left the building. By 2020, Michael Jordan’s old warning — “Republicans buy sneakers too” — was treated as obsolete.
The brand wanted the rich woke-sters. Everyone else could get lost. Result: a smaller, angrier customer base and a stock price in the toilet.
They are trying to walk some of it back. But sorority rush-week sponsorships in the SEC and a quieter culture war are not a strategy.
Elliott Hill, the former Nike lifer, was pulled out of retirement and took over in October 2024. A new CEO cannot wave away a decade of distribution mistakes, inventory gluts, and core-customer alienation. He is already under pressure. Fortune magazine recently asked how much time a turnaround CEO should get. Typically, they get more than two years. He may not. The market’s impatience is palpable. I can’t imagine the board’s.
This is larger than “go woke, go broke.” It is what happens when an iconic company decides the people who built it are the wrong customers and that political ideology plus a narrower vision of the business matter more than the people who actually buy the product.
Nike will always exist and will always take significant market share. My prediction: it will never again be the dominant, untouchable brand it was for nearly 40 years.
Some declines you don’t reverse. You just live with a smaller version of what you used to be.
***
Jennifer Sey is the CEO of XX-XY Athletics. She is an author, filmmaker, and retired national champion gymnast.

2026 US Open – Day 1

Nike Falls Out Of The S&P 100. They Earned It.

business

colin kaepernick

elliott hill

john donahoe

phil knight

This is republished with permission by the author. The original can be found at House of Strauss, “Nike’s Terrible NBA Jerseys Show They’re Still Fighting the Customer,” <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/nikes-terrible-nba-jerseys-show-theyre">here</a>.
***
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1177325" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/07846dbe-cb82-4d05-88bd-beb8f9ad26f0_892x454.jpg" alt="" width="892" height="454" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/07846dbe-cb82-4d05-88bd-beb8f9ad26f0_892x454.jpg 892w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/07846dbe-cb82-4d05-88bd-beb8f9ad26f0_892x454-300x153.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/07846dbe-cb82-4d05-88bd-beb8f9ad26f0_892x454-768x391.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 892px) 100vw, 892px" /></div>
House of Strauss has followed the Fall of Nike <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/nikes-end-of-men">since its inception</a>, and it’s a rich topic because there are so many components. The more politically-oriented tend to see this crash as cultural in nature (“wokeness,” according to some), whereas the more business-minded focus on Nike’s disastrous “direct-to-consumer” rejection of retailers.
The failed DTC bid is the more tangible wound for Nike and thus more directly explanatory. I think it can be too tempting for some financial pundits though, especially among the controversy-avoidant, to wholly lean on this functional mistake. It’s a huge reason for Nike’s fall, obviously, but there’s clearly something wrong with that company’s corporate culture beyond nuts and bolts strategic choices. This week’s release of Nike’s <a href="https://www.sbnation.com/nba/1127909/nba-new-jerseys-alternates-2026-2027-sesaon-specter-edition-lakers">widely panned Specter Edition NBA uniforms</a> is yet another indicator of the company’s cultural rot. The people running this place just refuse to accept that sports fans like what they like. They keep trying to appoint a new customer rather than bend to the customer’s preference.
Just look at these terrible uniforms, in a now long line of <a href="https://x.com/SacKings_Unis/status/2097844299547218422">terrible uniforms</a> foisted on NBA teams. I lack the aesthetic vocabulary to completely convey the appearance of these dark designs, but they remind me of this Fantasy Football league I played in years ago, on a now antiquated website, where our teams were given blandly unaffiliated uniforms. The best way I can describe the jerseys is that it’s like if a movie from three decades ago imagined what players would wear in some fictional future league. The team logos are so deemphasized that they almost convey the appearance of a filmmaker sidestepping copyright infringement concerns. Had Space Jam dressed Michael Jordan in this, it would have tracked, but also looked worse than what was actually chosen.
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1177327" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/a08c8f0f-2aae-4368-ae07-78b58063cffd_872x890.jpg" alt="" width="872" height="890" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/a08c8f0f-2aae-4368-ae07-78b58063cffd_872x890.jpg 872w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/a08c8f0f-2aae-4368-ae07-78b58063cffd_872x890-294x300.jpg 294w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/a08c8f0f-2aae-4368-ae07-78b58063cffd_872x890-564x576.jpg 564w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/a08c8f0f-2aae-4368-ae07-78b58063cffd_872x890-768x784.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 872px) 100vw, 872px" /></div>
Nike’s Specter Edition uniforms for the 2026-27 season “reimagine team identity for the league’s oldest franchises through their history, culture and the energy of today’s game.” I don’t believe fans were necessarily clamoring for their team’s identity to get “reimagined.” Nike explains the origin of creation with:
<blockquote>
The collection was created to revolutionize the look of the NBA for the next generation, strengthening the connection between what athletes wear on court and how fans express their team devotion.
</blockquote>
“Revolutionize”? Why? This is the exact sort of situation for which the cliché phrase, “you don’t need to reinvent the wheel,” exists. The value proposition of uniforms is that they are uniform. Fans have an emotional, Pavlovian attachment to a team’s classic jerseys. The notion that “next generation” demands a change falls into my <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/never-apologize-for-having-taste">Rule of Corporate Slop</a>:
<blockquote>
A trend is bad when even its defenders can’t defend it on merit, but instead only speculate that hypothetical kids must like it.
</blockquote>
<div class="image"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-1177329" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/8a20be8c-c325-45ee-8fd1-b8d51d0daa65_810x362.jpg" alt="" width="810" height="362" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/8a20be8c-c325-45ee-8fd1-b8d51d0daa65_810x362.jpg 810w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/8a20be8c-c325-45ee-8fd1-b8d51d0daa65_810x362-300x134.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2026/09/8a20be8c-c325-45ee-8fd1-b8d51d0daa65_810x362-768x343.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 810px) 100vw, 810px" /></div>
You can see what Nike’s going for in their photos of the apparel launch: Young, diverse models of varying hairstyles, glumly sporting this supposed garb of the future. There’s nothing wrong with the kids in the pictures, other than how they’re posed and what they’re wearing. This is not what actual sports fans at a sports corporation would produce. It’s giving supercilious Gen Z Zoolander. This isn’t clothing for happy jocks. This is attire for sullen fashionista catwalks.
As I’ve mentioned, anecdotally, the most commonly-worn uniform I see at my kid’s school is the classic, standard Steph Curry. Because why wouldn’t it be? The common blue and gold Warriors jersey is a minimalist beauty. They’re also the uniforms one envisions when thinking about “Steph Curry.” What’s with this concept that the kids instead cry out for this darkened shimmery nonsense, connected to nothing?
<blockquote>
I’m also skeptical that this overkill is all done to appease children, who just love novelty so much. Many parents in the Bay Area have had the experience of buying their child a Steph Curry jersey. Very few Bay Area parents have had the experience of a kid being disappointed that the uniform just so happens to be classic blue-and-yellow Warriors colors. To have a problem with this would be like being mad that daddy bought you a dapple-gray pony instead of a chestnut pony. But more to the point, blue and yellow are the colors Steph Curry is most associated with. Anecdotally, when you see kids wearing a Steph jersey, it’s almost always one of these two options.
</blockquote>
You might assume that the NBA teams are in league with Nike in this project, and that all parties are eager to sell newfangled products. This is incorrect. The team people I talk to are sick of Nike’s constant tinkering and demands that their teams sport increasingly bizarre designs. To be blunt, the sources I have are tired of Nike’s idiocy being transposed onto brands they’re trying to protect. They’re also weary of the confusing protocols involved in all this:
<blockquote>
In theory, Nike engages in a back-and-forth with NBA teams where design ideas are exchanged. In practice, from what teams tell me, the result is a lot of confusing Nike rules and dictation regarding which jerseys and when. NBA franchises must manage being managed by Nike. The league office doesn’t appear to care about the aggravations and brand issues so long as the sponsorship checks clear.
</blockquote>
As recently as April, I <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/ubs-report-nba-decline-hurt-nike">wrote about a UBS report that theorized Nike had been hurt by a decline in NBA star power</a>. While that’s a plausible interpretation of the recent past, following a boffo NBA Finals, Adam Silver’s league looks to be in far better health than its major partner. It’s now dysfunctional Nike that’s arguably the millstone (literally?) around the NBA’s neck. The NBA can brag about currently commanding <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/p/why-adam-silver-beat-roger-goodell">a TV rights price that embarrasses the NFL</a>. Nike can boast about <a href="https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/nike-loses-spot-p-100-120000497.html?guccounter=1&amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAANjSNeFm2pqs4f3r7sW0gyT4lkgq-fn3ZnvkbDJEO5h7EhnYosZS1DSJdMRWkrKRBBsAx5KIMMA9gGEN0t2XWykMo0ie9HWaHc-ZtCS_GBD-HQRQqLd5NPk1tQtPLZOx9_uCGP8MtjUA1r4d8Ea0U8CsRSjclEpYjLK4zPcIEkZ4">once having been listed in the S&amp;P 100</a>.
More to the point of this article, Nike’s DTC failure has arguably little to do with its struggles on this crazy NBA uniform front. This is a cultural disconnect that, if we’re being taboo, could be downstream from gender-informed shakeups at the company. Quoting me:
<blockquote>
In 2018, a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/28/business/nike-women.html">New York Times article</a> detailed the middle-up “revolt” within Nike, driven by women who had enough of an “environment that had turned toxic.” According to the report, the Nike company culture wasn’t so far from that of the locker room, which will run you into some problems when your locker room employs 75,000 people, with both sexes included. Even if Nike had thrived over the decades, its ways didn’t seem sustainable in the modern world. Finally, a concerted push from middle class female employees led to multiple high-profile male ousters, including the aforementioned Trevor Edwards.
</blockquote>
Trevor Edwards was CEO heir-apparent <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nike-president-resigns-amid-reports-of-inappropriate-behavior/">but got undone by his #MeToo transgressions</a>. I’m not defending whatever Edwards did. I’m instead observing that Nike, shocked by the scandal, made a guilt-ridden effort to change course with new management hires. The attempt to excise the bad appears to have been a botched surgery. Nike ceased to be a male-oriented sports company. They shifted into becoming a fashion company. Sports fans like sports. They don’t necessarily like “fashion” for its own sake.
***
Ethan Strauss is the creator of the Substack <a href="https://www.houseofstrauss.com/">House of Strauss</a>. He is a former NBA PR gopher, basketblogger, and NBA beat writer.

image_f6f33e65

Nike Goes Full Gen Z Zoolander And Commits Cultural Suicide

corporate culture

direct to consumer

opinion

The Trump administration asked a federal court on Wednesday to compel Nike to produce information on its diversity, equity, and inclusion goals as the athletic footwear and apparel giant faces allegations that it discriminated against white employees.
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a court filing that it is investigating allegations that Nike discriminated against white workers and job applicants to carry out its DEI objectives. The federal government said that Nike also faces accusations of &#8220;disparate treatment against white employees&#8221; in layoff decisions.
Nike refused to comply with a subpoena asking for the information, according to the commission, which has now filed an enforcement action in a federal court. The commission is asking the court to force Nike to hand over information going back to 2018, and especially wants to look into the criteria Nike has used to select people for layoffs.
“When there are compelling indications, including corporate admissions in extensive public materials, that an employer’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion-related programs may violate federal prohibitions against race discrimination or other forms of unlawful discrimination, the EEOC will take all necessary steps—including subpoena enforcement actions—to ensure the opportunity to fully and comprehensively investigate,” <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/newsroom/eeoc-files-subpoena-enforcement-action-against-nike">said</a> Equal Employment Opportunity Commission Chair Andrea Lucas.
A Nike spokesman told The Daily Wire that the federal government&#8217;s action on Wednesday &#8220;feels like a surprising and unusual escalation.&#8221;
&#8220;We have had extensive, good-faith participation in an EEOC inquiry into our personnel practices, programs, and decisions and have had ongoing efforts to provide information and engage constructively with the agency,&#8221; the spokesman added. &#8220;We have shared thousands of pages of information and detailed written responses to the EEOC’s inquiry and are in the process of providing additional information.&#8221;
Conservative law firm America First Legal filed a civil rights <a href="https://aflegal.org/press-release/america-first-legal-slams-nike-files-federal-civil-rights-complaint-for-alleged-racial-and-sex-discrimination-against-white-males/">complaint</a> with the commission in January 2024, highlighting how the company has pushed race- and gender-based hiring practices. In 2025, Nike aimed to have half of its global corporate workforce made up of women, and 35% of its U.S. corporate workforce made up of racial minorities.
Nike has also stated that its &#8220;Employee Networks&#8221; support racial minorities, women, and LGBT people, but noticeably missing from the company&#8217;s web page on fostering an &#8220;inclusive community&#8221; was any mention of straight white men.
The Nike spokesman told The Daily Wire that it remains &#8220;committed to fair and lawful employment practices and follow all applicable laws, including those that prohibit discrimination.&#8221;
&#8220;We believe our programs and practices are consistent with those obligations and take these matters seriously,&#8221; the company added. &#8220;We will continue our attempt to cooperate with the EEOC and will respond to the petition.&#8221;
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said its investigation into Nike is part of a &#8220;renewed &#8230; focus on evenhanded enforcement of Title VII,&#8221; which prohibits employers from discriminating based on race, religion, or sex.
“Title VII’s prohibition of race-based employment discrimination is colorblind and requires the EEOC to protect employees of all races from unlawful employment practices,&#8221; the commission added.
In recent years, multiple companies and organizations have faced scrutiny over allegations that they have discriminated against white people, especially white men. In 2023, NASCAR <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/nascar-takes-down-blatantly-illegal-racial-requirement-for-internship-after-daily-wire-report">removed</a> a racial requirement that discriminated against white applicants in an intern program following a <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/blatantly-illegal-nascar-bans-white-applicants-from-diversity-internship">Daily Wire report</a>.
The Supreme Court <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/supreme-court-unanimously-rules-in-favor-of-straight-woman-in-reverse-discrimination-lawsuit?author=Spencer+Lindquist&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Supreme+Court+Unanimously+Rules+In+Favor+Of+Straight+Woman+In+%E2%80%98Reverse+Discrimination%E2%80%99+Lawsuit">ruled</a> last summer in favor of a white woman who sued after alleging that she was denied a promotion and demoted for being straight, while both the person who received the promotion and took her old job identified as LGBT. The ruling ensured that white and straight people could sue for discrimination without being forced to meet a higher burden of proof.

Nike

Feds Investigate Nike Over Claims Of Discrimination Against White Employees

Feds Investigate Nike For Alleged Discrimination Against White Employees

anti-white

discrimination

trump administration

An activist researcher who said he was working on a study on &#8220;trans youth athletes&#8221; funded by Nike says the funding was cut by the world&#8217;s largest athletic gear company after &#8220;haters got wind of it.&#8221;
Reports that Nike was funding the study on children&#8217;s athletic abilities during so-called &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; procedures first arose earlier this year, when one of the researchers, Joanna Harper, told the New York Times that they were running fitness tests on children as they underwent them. Harper, a man who ran marathons for years before identifying as a woman in the early 2000s, now <a href="https://www.outsports.com/2025/11/11/24121287/joanna-harper-trans-women-athletes-research-nike/">tells</a> OutSports, an LGBT sports website, that Nike walked away from the study after political pressure.
Specifically, pressure from Se. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL), who <a href="https://www.tuberville.senate.gov/newsroom/in-the-news/outkick-sen-tommy-tuberville-slams-nike-and-maine-governor-over-support-for-males-in-womens-sports/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CThese%20governors%20need%20to%20stand,Great%20question%2C%20Senator.">slammed Nike</a> for their lack of support for women&#8217;s sports and their funding of a study on children&#8217;s athletic abilities during &#8220;gender-affirming&#8221; care. OutSports called Tuberville &#8220;one of the most vocal transphobes in elected office.&#8221;
Tuberville wasn&#8217;t the only person who blasted Nike for reportedly being part of the study. After <a href="http://outkick.com/sports/nike-funding-study-transgender-athletes">OutKick</a> questioned Nike on its involvement in this study, some of the biggest names in sports, including Charles Barkley, spoke out against studying kids under the influence of unnatural hormones. OutKick reported back in April that a Nike executive <a href="https://www.outkick.com/sports/researcher-nike-pulled-plug-transgender-youth-athlete-study">told</a> the outlet the study &#8220;was never initialized&#8221; and wasn&#8217;t moving forward. Harper implied Nike had to make the &#8220;corporate decision&#8221; to move on from the study.
&#8220;I understand in the wake of what happened to Bud Light that Nike got nervous,&#8221; Harper said.
Harper, who is also a professor at Oregon Health &amp; Science University, said he wishes Nike hadn&#8217;t pulled out of the study.
&#8220;It was a study of fitness test results in trans adolescents,&#8221; Harper told OutSports. &#8220;And while there’s limited data on trans adults, there’s no published data on trans adolescents and their athletic capabilities. This was an exciting study.&#8221;
Harper, however, appears to have already reached his conclusion before conducting the study.
“Trans women aren’t men,” Harper told the pro-transgenderism website, rejecting the idea that transgender-identifying men should compete against other men.
“They don’t compete like men, don’t look like men and that would bring trans women into an arena where they are not welcome, not wanted and in danger,&#8221; Harper said.
Harper first broke the news of this study when he was interviewed for a New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/20/magazine/trans-athletes-women-college-sports.html">story</a> on trans-identifying volleyball player, Blair Fleming. Harper told the outlet that the study, funded by Nike, would use a 10-step fitness test to measure kids&#8217; skills before they start hormone therapy and after they medically transition. The study would repeat the fitness test every six months for five years.
The reported experimentations with children and their bodies was the latest push to justify men competing against women. Fleming was part of the International Olympic Committee&#8217;s decision to let men compete in the women&#8217;s category with testosterone suppression. The International Olympic Committee is now reportedly planning to ban men competing in women&#8217;s sports.
Nike did not respond to a request for comment on Harper&#8217;s claims.

Footwear, apparel and equipment manufacturer Nike (USA)

Activist Says Nike Yanked Funding From His Study On Trans Kids: ‘Haters Got Wind Of It’

News

Transgender Athletes

“Pride Month” is just around the corner *sigh* — but under the second Trump administration and after the recent backlash to woke companies, questions swirl around how crazy June will get this year. And there’s a hope that maybe — just maybe — the rainbow weirdness won’t show up everywhere you turn your head. 
Multiple large companies have pulled out of annual “Pride” parades that take place in cities across the country. Mastercard, Citi, Pepsi, and Nissan will not sponsor the parade in New York City this year. Meanwhile, Anheuser-Busch and Comcast ended their sponsorship of the San Francisco “Pride” parade, Axios <a href="https://www.axios.com/2025/05/08/pride-month-sponsorship-decline-2025">reported</a>. 
It appears that LGBT celebrations could be tamed down this June, at least on the corporate side of things, but here are some companies that could still push the “Pride” messaging:
<h3>Harry’s</h3>
Last year, Harry’s — the razor company whose defense of gender insanity sparked the launch of Jeremy’s Razors — <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/harrys-sends-another-bag-of-cash-to-group-promoting-radical-gender-theory">sent</a> a bag of cash to the Trevor Project, an activist organization that has been blasted for running a <a href="https://www.trevorspace.org/">chat room</a> where minors can talk to peers and adults about their sexuality. 
“Pride Month may be coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean the work stops here. We believe it’s important to support the LGBTQ+ community and take care of ourselves every day, which is why we partner with The Trevor Project all year round,” Harry’s <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/C82E5umtRAB/">said</a> in June 2024. 
In prior years, Harry’s has <a href="https://www.wallpaper.com/beauty-grooming/harrys-new-digital-platform-celebrates-pride">unveiled</a> special edition “Pride” shaving sets.
All signs point toward another colorful June for Harry’s. You’ve been warned. 
<h3>Apple</h3>
It’s not even June, and the California-based tech company has already jumped into the “Pride” festivities, introducing its “Pride Collection” earlier this month. 
“Ahead of Pride Month, Apple is introducing a new Apple Watch Pride Edition Sport Band, watch face, and iPhone and iPad wallpaper to celebrate the strength and beauty of LGBTQ+ communities around the world,” Apple <a href="https://www.apple.com/newsroom/2025/05/apple-introduces-the-2025-pride-collection/">said</a>. 
Apple also sent out free “<a href="https://www.vice.com/en/article/apples-new-2025-edition-pride-wallpapers-arrive-today/">Pride Month Wallpapers</a>” to its users, allowing them to wrap their phone displays in the colors of the “Pride Flag.” 
<h3>Nike</h3>
In 2024, Nike scaled back its “Pride” month push for the first time in years as companies faced backlash over their woke talking points. The company has long pushed its “Be True” collection during “Pride Month,” but paused it in 2024. 
&#8220;While there is no global Be True product collection for 2024, Nike remains deeply committed to this work,&#8221; the apparel company <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/pride-month-campaigns-2024-major-brands-scaled-back-why-that-matters/">stated</a>. 
Will Nike revert to its old woke ways and push its “Pride” promotion this year? It appears that Nike is already doing that. The company recently <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/lifestyle/shopping/nike-pride-shoes-2025-by-courtney-vandersloot-allie-quigley-1236231305/">released</a> “Pride-inspired” shoes in collaboration with the WNBA lesbian couple, Courtney Vandersloot and Allie Quigley. 
<h3>Procter &amp; Gamble</h3>
The parent company of popular personal care brands such as Gillette, Head &amp; Shoulders, and Old Spice, wasn’t quiet about its support for LGBT issues last year. In June 2024, P&amp;G <a href="https://us.pg.com/blogs/pride-month/">called</a> “Pride Month” a “culmination of our unwavering commitment to create an inclusive environment where anyone, regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity, can forge a meaningful career.”
Last year, P&amp;G <a href="https://us.pg.com/blogs/pride-month/">celebrated</a> “the 30th anniversary of GABLE, P&amp;G’s LGBTQ+ global employee resource group, spanning over 50 countries with 5,000 LGBTQ+ and ally members worldwide.” The company <a href="https://us.pg.com/blogs/pride-month/">runs</a> a huge “programming effort” called “Can’t Cancel Pride,” which P&amp;G says provides “much needed visibility and funding for six LGBTQ+ organizations to continue their transformative work of supporting the LGBTQ+ community.” Among the organizations recognized by P&amp;G in 2024 were the leftist groups GLAAD and the Trevor Project. 
<h3>Target</h3>
A lot of questions are swirling around Target, which has been at the forefront of the DEI pushback. In 2023, Target was <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-to-offer-pride-merchandise-in-fewer-stores-after-backlash-against-tuck-friendly-swimsuit-sale-last-year">blasted</a> for offering “tuck-friendly” female swimsuits, which led to boycotts and sinking sales. After the backlash, Target scaled back its “Pride” displays in June 2024, only offering “Pride” merchandise at a limited number of stores. Then, earlier this year, Target <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/target-rolls-back-dei-joining-other-major-companies-like-walmart-meta">announced</a> that it was rolling back some of its DEI initiatives, which included focusing investments in black-owned businesses. Now, Target will no longer focus on diversity when choosing suppliers.
The company is now taking flak from the Left over its decision to dial it back on the woke messaging. So will Target jump back into the thick of “Pride” month this year? We’ll have to find out. 
You don’t have to worry about obnoxious “Pride” displays and brand campaigns everywhere. At <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/">Jeremy’s Razors</a> and <a href="https://store.dailywire.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqX1wc2L5M52F-x7QSFI_Dk_vuQqmnAe1NtZfuqVTmwEK5LtAij">Daily Wire Shop</a>, we stick to the business of making quality products for Americans without jumping headfirst into wokeness. In June, we celebrate Father’s Day, not “Pride Month.” And we have numerous <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-ultimate-gift-guide-for-fathers-day-2025">great gift ideas</a> for you to get for your dad this year. 
Jeremy&#8217;s Razors shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.

Pride Flag

Pride Watch: Will These Companies Jump Back Into LGBT Celebrations This June?

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Daily Wire Shop

Harry's Razors

Jeremy's Razors

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Former president Barack Obama’s daughter Malia Obama has been accused by an independent filmmaker of copying some of her work.
New York University graduate Natalie Jasmine Harris took to social media to voice her concerns, claiming that Malia’s new commercial for Nike contains elements from Harris’ 2024 short film, “Grace.” She noted in her post that Malia, who uses the name Malia Ann professionally, was in attendance at Sundance during its premiere as she was showing her film there, “The Heart.”
“Been sitting with this for a while. My Sundance short film GRACE (shot brilliantly by Tehillah de Castro) was made with deep love and care. The social cut of the new @Nike commercial directed by Malia Obama (who was also at Sundance my year) feels shockingly similar to my work…” Harris <a href="https://x.com/nataliejharris/status/1919585348759220227">wrote</a> in an X post last week.
She continued, “I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard when you’ve poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve. If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition?”
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I know art often overlaps, but moments like this hit hard when you’ve poured your heart into telling stories with care and barely get the recognition you deserve. If brands want a certain look, why not hire from the source instead of for name recognition? <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/_ajawilson22?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@_ajawilson22</a> <a href="https://t.co/Y57ACZiPRe">pic.twitter.com/Y57ACZiPRe</a>
&mdash; Natalie Jasmine Harris (@nataliejharris) <a href="https://twitter.com/nataliejharris/status/1919585412810735743?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 6, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Malia directed the new Nike ad for WNBA star A’ja Wilson&#8217;s pink A’One signature shoe.
Harris posted a follow-up on Instagram the next day, echoing what she had said in her original X update and sharing more stills from both projects and a photo of her and Obama from Sundance last year.
“I don’t have much else to say, besides that this is quite disheartening and disappointing,” she <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/DJS_XtNJ5Xb/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;ig_rid=5a74bf8c-2f8a-4095-aa9e-3093b9db6183">wrote</a> in the post caption. “I’m constantly posting about how difficult it is to be an emerging filmmaker right now and sustain myself without benefitting from family connections, generational wealth, or nepotism… and then to see this just really gives me even less hope that this industry wants me to be here.”
She also addressed those who had criticized her for making the comparisons in the first place.
“I just want to make it abundantly clear that this is not an issue about a game of Pat-A-Cake. It’s the framing, composition, editing, etc. Cinematic choices that are uncannily similar to the visual language in my short film. Before you are so quick to comment, please put your thinking caps on. Why would I say something that in turn probably does put my career at risk to try and say that I invented a hand game? Come on y’all….”

Malia Obama

Indie Filmmaker Accuses Malia Obama Of Ripping Off Her Film

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Nike is getting blasted for its insensitivity in using a phrase associated with the Holocaust only three days after Yom HaShoah, when Jews around the world mark the murder of six million Jews by the Nazis in the Holocaust.
Nike installed signs along the London Marathon route emblazoned, “Never again, until next year.”
“As a Jew living in London, I felt shocked, hurt, and angry to see the use of words in this context, even if no doubt in reference to the temporary pain of running 26 miles,&#8221; retired British judge Nigel Litman <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-851847" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told</a> Walla.
He continued:
<blockquote>
“Never Again” is a phrase related to the Holocaust and the murder of six million Jews. It is directed as a prayer to the world that it will not allow such a horror to repeat itself. And over the past 18 months, it has been used more than ever, as we mourn the barbaric slaughter of more than 1,000 Israelis and long for the return of hostages kidnapped to the tunnels of Gaza. The fact that the phrase is used as a marketing tool for the marathon is very indicative of the way it is treated. In fact, to chant ‘never again, until next year’ is exactly what Hamas promised: to repeat October 7 over and over again.
</blockquote>
“I am not arguing that Nike meant an antisemitic act, but it demonstrated how a serious and important comment is thrown aside as of little importance, despite the fact that for many Jews it is of enormous importance,” he concluded.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Boycott Nike <a href="https://t.co/sntTQ9Fg9W">pic.twitter.com/sntTQ9Fg9W</a>
&mdash; Eye On Antisemitism (@AntisemitismEye) <a href="https://twitter.com/AntisemitismEye/status/1916873782381203492?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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The idea that <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> would make light of the holocaust using Hitler-red imagery in a post-October 7th world is stunning. 
Heads need to roll. 
WTF Nike? <a href="https://t.co/5kHx3sdB7a">https://t.co/5kHx3sdB7a</a>
&mdash; Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1916929342296166809?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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I will &quot;never again&quot; purchase anything from Nike. <a href="https://t.co/lPx99oOsqV">pic.twitter.com/lPx99oOsqV</a>
&mdash; Eyal Yakoby (@EYakoby) <a href="https://twitter.com/EYakoby/status/1916862588282904667?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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Nike&#39;s ad at the London Marathon — to Never Again buy Nike. <a href="https://t.co/Egs4M06vfL">pic.twitter.com/Egs4M06vfL</a>
&mdash; dahlia kurtz ✡︎ דליה קורץ (@DahliaKurtz) <a href="https://twitter.com/DahliaKurtz/status/1916841999136604413?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2025</a></blockquote>
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&nbsp;
One month after the October 7, 2023, Hamas massacre of over 1,200 Israelis, a &#8220;digital media marketing specialist&#8221; at Nike accused Israel of “massacring civilians.”
“Much of what is Israel claims about Palestinian resistance is pure projection. The killing of children, massacring civilians, the r*pe, torture, hostage-taking, and imprisonment that Israel accuses of Palestinians of occurs on a much greater scale by the Israelis,” James Rehwald wrote, The Washington Free Beacon <a href="https://freebeacon.com/democrats/meet-the-nike-marketing-specialist-who-says-israel-not-hamas-is-massacring-civilians/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reported</a>, adding, “Nike CEO John Donahoe nearly a week after the attack sent an internal email to employees decrying the &#8220;horrific attacks in Israel&#8221; but did not mention Hamas, prompting pushback from some Jewish employees.”

Nike Swoosh Logo

Nike Blasted After Posting ‘Never Again’ Signs During Marathon 3 Days After Holocaust Memorial Day

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If we’ve learned anything from the past few months it’s that the American people have drawn a clear line in the sand on women’s sports. Women should compete against women and men should compete against men. Apparently, the NFL and Nike missed that lesson, or they just don’t care.
On Super Bowl Sunday, two ads — one from the NFL and another from Nike — were promptly blasted by social media users. In the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsqhcNnxfv4" target="_blank" rel="noopener">NFL’s commercial</a>, the league suggests that girls can play football just as well — or even better — than boys. The ad begins with some nostalgia, taking place in a typical high school in 1985, but the viewer quickly realizes that this commercial isn’t about the nostalgia of the ’80s — it’s about making fun of how people thought about sex and gender in the ’80s. According to the NFL, that argument is so 1985. In the ad, a young girl shows her quick hand-eye coordination and athleticism in the school hallways and then on the football field, making fools of the toughest guys on the football team. 
The ad cuts to a black screen with the sentence, “Leave the past behind,” before fast-forwarding to the present and showing girls playing high school flag football.
“Let’s make girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states,” the commercial reads. 
Nike then gave the NFL a run for its money for the wokest commercial of the Super Bowl. In Nike’s ad, multiple women athletes are shown competing in their sports while a narrator laments all of the things women “can’t” do because of our society’s perceived misogyny. 
“You can’t be demanding, you can’t be relentless, you can’t put yourself first. So put yourself first,” the ad states. “You can’t be confident, so be confident. You can’t challenge, so challenge. You can’t dominate, so dominate. You can’t flex, so flex. You can’t fill a stadium, so fill that stadium. You can’t be emotional, so be emotional. You can’t take credit, you can’t speak up, you can’t be so ambitious, you can’t break records, you can’t have fun, you can’t be proud, you can’t make demands, you can’t keep score, you can’t stand out. Whatever you do, you can’t win — so win.” 
<iframe loading="lazy" title="So Win. | Nike" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/b0Ezn5pZE7o?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Maybe Nike’s commercial would’ve been received better if the company had taken a stand to protect women’s sports from male athletes.
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with girls playing flag football or with women striving to be better at their sports, but our culture is sick of the woke idea that says men and women aren’t really that different. Last week, President Trump signed an executive order that banned men from women’s sports, an order that was advocated for by countless women who know that it’s unfair to be expected to compete against men. The NFL and Nike are preaching the opposite — that women should pride themselves in trying to be better than men. 
If you thought woke was dead, think again. The Left still has a stranglehold on much of our culture, and we have to keep pushing back, because they won’t let go without kicking and screaming the whole way. At <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/tools/recurring/checkout_link?magic=eyJpdGVtcyI6IFt7ImlkIjogNDgyNzM0NDQ4OTY5ODEsICJxdWFudGl0eSI6IDEsICJzZWxsaW5nX3BsYW4iOiAzODIwODgwMDg1LCAic2VsbGluZ19wbGFuX2dyb3VwX2lkIjogMjY3MjI5NjE0OX1dfQ==&amp;store_id=152830" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Razors</a>, we are still pushing back, because we know men and women are different, and we’ve never been afraid to say it. <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/tools/recurring/checkout_link?magic=eyJpdGVtcyI6IFt7ImlkIjogNDgyNzM0NDQ4OTY5ODEsICJxdWFudGl0eSI6IDEsICJzZWxsaW5nX3BsYW4iOiAzODIwODgwMDg1LCAic2VsbGluZ19wbGFuX2dyb3VwX2lkIjogMjY3MjI5NjE0OX1dfQ==&amp;store_id=152830" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Precision 5 Razor</a> is made to give a damn good shave to men who know they are men and act like it. It’s not just a razor, and it’s not just a statement; the Precision 5 is the ultimate tool to keep your jawline sharp and your integrity intact.
Because men and women are different, so are their razors. For the ladies who live in reality, <a href="https://www.jeremysrazors.com/tools/recurring/checkout_link?magic=eyJpdGVtcyI6IFt7ImlkIjogNDU2OTA5ODc4MDY5MzMsICJxdWFudGl0eSI6IDEsICJzZWxsaW5nX3BsYW4iOiA0MDU3NTYzMzQ5LCAic2VsbGluZ19wbGFuX2dyb3VwX2lkIjogMjg5MzI1MDc3M31dfQ==&amp;store_id=152830" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Jeremy’s Razor for women</a> is designed with premium blades for silky-smooth shaves, plus a gracefully pivoting head and comfortably curved handle because control belongs in their hands, not progressive corporate boardrooms.
Last week, we released our fully AI-generated commercial that cuts through the noise of corporate virtue-signaling with sharp wit, bold messaging, and a smooth shave.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="The Greatest AI Commercial Ever Made" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/UzMXJct5WQ8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
Our culture is ready to move on from this woke insanity, and we’re leading the march to a better future. Masculinity isn’t toxic and femininity doesn’t need to prove its power by measuring up to men. Both are essential in and of themselves.
Jeremy’s Razors shares common ownership with The Daily Wire.

Commercials

Super Bowl Commercials Ignore A Massive Cultural Shift, Pit Men Against Women In Sports

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wokeness

As <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/j-k-rowling-shares-powerful-ad-about-protecting-female-sports-but-theres-more-to-the-story" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Daily Wire chronicled</a> earlier this week, a pro-women athletic brand&#8217;s ad went viral after receiving an endorsement from &#8220;Harry Potter&#8221; author and female advocate J.K. Rowling.
The ad, created by<a href="https://www.xx-xyathletics.com/pages/our-founder?gad_source=1&amp;gbraid=0AAAAA9U_9lvnmtPx928X2qibdwRF4SutE&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiA74G9BhAEEiwA8kNfpalocfJ73HNO0UTZmsElh7Fk2Ch1KyCEeQKXINBG8qOUfXGzJwdxSRoCr74QAvD_BwE" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> XX-XY Athletics</a>, is titled &#8220;Real Girls Rock&#8221; and features <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/take-your-mark-a-practical-guide-for-defending-women-girls-and-biological-truth" target="_blank" rel="noopener">real stories of female athletes</a> who’ve lost out on opportunities because of male trans-identifying athletes and received hatred and vitriol for standing up for themselves and other girls.
WATCH:
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This is the first and likely the last time I’ll retweet an ad, but I love it. <a href="https://t.co/oALpr5c10v">pic.twitter.com/oALpr5c10v</a>
— J.K. Rowling (@jk_rowling) <a href="https://twitter.com/jk_rowling/status/1886348443745976525?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 3, 2025</a></blockquote>
The video is still gaining traction online since it was first released over the weekend, and sparking backlash against woke athletic corporation Nike, which supports the &#8220;LGBTQIA+&#8221; agenda and refuses to stand up for female athletes.
X users quickly found other ads from XX-XY Athletics, specifically an ad called &#8220;Dear Nike,&#8221; and asked, as the ad does, why Nike is not standing up for females who are having their spaces and sports infiltrated by males who identify as transgender.
&#8220;You thought the last ad got you? This one is just as amazing. Just as beautiful. Wow wow wow,&#8221; one user caption the &#8220;Dear Nike&#8221; ad. &#8220;I’m not crying. You’re crying.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
You thought the last ad got you?
This one is just as amazing. Just as beautiful. Wow wow wow.
I’m not crying. You’re crying.
<a href="https://t.co/VDk0DHTqFZ">pic.twitter.com/VDk0DHTqFZ</a>
— Jennifer 🟥🔴🧙‍♀️🦉🐈‍⬛ 🦖 (@babybeginner) <a href="https://twitter.com/babybeginner/status/1886750252503589001?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 4, 2025</a></blockquote>
In response, billionaire hedge fund manager Bill Ackman posted on Wednesday, &#8220;I am going to discuss this with Eliott Hill CEO of [Nike] tomorrow.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
I am going to discuss this with Eliott Hill CEO of <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> tomorrow. <a href="https://t.co/IgJmXSclvS">https://t.co/IgJmXSclvS</a>
— Bill Ackman (@BillAckman) <a href="https://twitter.com/BillAckman/status/1886962630776021020?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">February 5, 2025</a></blockquote>
When the &#8220;Dear Nike&#8221; ad was released last year, collegiate swimmer-turned-advocate Riley Gaines promoted the video.
&#8220;Chills! Powerful ad by [XX-XY Athletics] in honor of Real Women&#8217;s Day tomorrow. It&#8217;s not hard to stand up for women and girls, so why won&#8217;t [Nike] just do it?,&#8221; she captioned the ad.
Gaines and her younger sister are both featured in the brand&#8217;s more recent &#8220;Real Girls Rock&#8221; ad.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Chills! Powerful ad by <a href="https://twitter.com/xx_xyathletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xx_xyathletics</a> in honor of Real Womens Day tomorrow. 🔥🔥🔥
It&#8217;s not hard to stand up for women and girls, so why won&#8217;t <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> just do it?<a href="https://t.co/A1OJZljEzr">pic.twitter.com/A1OJZljEzr</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1844071677568901344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
Nike&#8217;s website promotes the &#8220;LGBTQIA+&#8221; agenda, including activism for so-called &#8220;trans and non-binary youth.&#8221;
&#8220;Nike is on a mission to make sport available to everyone, everywhere. We’re continuing our commitment to helping shape a strong culture of LGBTQIA+ belonging and visibility in sport,&#8221; the site <a href="https://www.nike.com/a/no-pride-no-sport#" target="_blank" rel="noopener">reads</a>. &#8220;We’re working to expand sport for the next generation through community grants, athlete partnerships, impactful storytelling, and products that celebrate the full spectrum of LGBTQIA+ expression. Because sport is better when all athletes are free to play as themselves.&#8221;
Under a section called &#8220;take the initiative,&#8221; the site says, &#8220;Prioritize safe spaces for trans and non-binary youth, even if there are no active requests. When you normalize the needs of LGBTQIA+ athletes, it creates a welcoming environment for them to participate.&#8221;
&#8220;Creating a safe environment that is respectful of a full spectrum of identities and pronouns starts with being an informed ally,&#8221; the website adds. &#8220;Stay on top of your game with regular LGBTQIA+ education for both you and your team.&#8221;
Currently, XX-XY Athletics&#8217; &#8220;Real Girls Rock&#8221; and &#8220;Dear Nike&#8221; ads have racked up more than 10 millions views each and continue to gain attention online. At the same time, President Donald Trump has signed an executive order protecting girls&#8217; sports.

Real Girls Rock ad

XX-XY Athletics’ Viral Pro-Girls Sports Ad Sparks Backlash Against Woke Nike

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A new ad from the pro-women’s sports brand XX-XY Athletics went viral after it called out the athletic brand <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nike</a> for being silent about supporting female-only women&#8217;s sports amid the transgender insanity.
“Chills! Powerful ad by @xx_xyathletics in honor of Real Women’s Day tomorrow [Oct. 10],” former collegiate swimmer and outspoken women’s sports advocate <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/riley-gaines">Riley Gaines</a> wrote in her post on <a href="https://x.com/riley_gaines_/status/1844071677568901344?s=46&amp;t=yVg_AIbZC0FnyCtU4qPVYw">X</a>.
“It&#8217;s not hard to stand up for women and girls, so why won&#8217;t @Nike just do it?” she added.
Gaines &#8212; who is also brand ambassador for the company &#8212; made the post on Wednesday, and by Thursday, it had garnered 1.8 million views.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Chills! Powerful ad by <a href="https://twitter.com/xx_xyathletics?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@xx_xyathletics</a> in honor of Real Womens Day tomorrow. 🔥🔥🔥
It&#8217;s not hard to stand up for women and girls, so why won&#8217;t <a href="https://twitter.com/Nike?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Nike</a> just do it?<a href="https://t.co/A1OJZljEzr">pic.twitter.com/A1OJZljEzr</a>
— Riley Gaines (@Riley_Gaines_) <a href="https://twitter.com/Riley_Gaines_/status/1844071677568901344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">October 9, 2024</a></blockquote>
The ad, titled “Dear Nike,” features nearly a dozen girls of all different ages asking Nike simply, “Why won’t you stand up for me?”
“Why do you claim to support women and girls, yet when we need you most, you remain silent?” a group of the young girls say in the clip. “Today, males are claiming our identity, our sports, our spaces.”
“Men and boys are stealing opportunities, medals, trophies, and our future,” a few more girls add. “And it is not fair or just. In fact, it’s awfully dangerous, yet you refuse to use your platform to stand up. You say you’re for social justice and progress, so why do you allow men’s rights to come before ours?”
“See, with a big platform comes an even bigger responsibility,” the girls in the ad continue. “You have a chance to do the right thing, not just do the easy thing. So we’re asking you, Nike, as the biggest voice in all of sports, will you stand up for me? Will you just do it?”
A hashtag at the end of the ad reads, “#SaveWomensSports.&#8221;
Podcast host and journalist Megyn Kelly reacted to the ad, writing on <a href="https://x.com/megynkelly/status/1844153792260079747?s=46&amp;t=yVg_AIbZC0FnyCtU4qPVYw">X,</a> “Woah. Chills. Will you, @Nike?”
Former ESPN anchor <a href="https://x.com/sagesteele/status/1844075427104686172">Sage Steele</a> also saw the ad and wrote, “Wow.  LOVE this new ad called &#8216;Dear Nike&#8217; by @xx_xyathletis. Tomorrow is #XXDay so please join us in asking @Nike to do the right thing by standing up for girls &amp; women by keeping boys &amp; men OUT of our sports.”
She also credited the company’s founder, former top Levi executive Jennifer Sey, with doing a great job with the ad.
Sey — who was ousted as brand president at Levi Strauss &amp; Co. after more than 20 years with the company when she spoke out against COVID policy issues — shared <a href="https://x.com/JenniferSey/status/1844420092550844420">the ad</a> and wrote, “Hey @Nike will you actually do the right thing?”
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/fourth-university-womens-team-refuses-to-play-against-trans-identifying-male" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Fourth University Women’s Team Refuses To Play Against Trans-Identifying Male</a>

Celebrating the victory after soccer match!

Viral Ad Calls Out Nike For Being Silent About Female-Only Women’s Sports

Viral Ad Calls Out Nike For Being Silent About Female-Only Women's Sports

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A former DEI manager for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/facebook" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Facebook</a> and <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/nike" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nike</a> was sentenced to five years in prison for stealing over 5 million dollars from those two companies. 
Barbara Furlow-Smiles, 38, was <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-ndga/pr/former-diversity-program-manager-facebook-and-nike-sentenced-federal-prison-5-million" target="_blank" rel="noopener">convicted</a> of orchestrating a scheme where she used fraudulent vendors, fictitious paperwork, and cash kickbacks to steal $4.9 million from Facebook and over $120,000 from Nike. Furlow-Smiles was ordered by U.S. District Judge Steven D. Grimberg to pay restitution for the funds she stole and given five years in prison with three years of supervised release. 
“Furlow-Smiles shamelessly violated her position of trust as a DEI executive at Facebook to steal millions from the company utilizing a scheme involving fraudulent vendors, fake invoices, and cash kickbacks,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan K. Buchanan. “After being terminated from Facebook, she brazenly continued the fraud as a DEI leader at Nike, where she stole another six-figure sum from their diversity program.&#8221;
The DOJ said that she used the stolen money to fund a “luxury lifestyle” in California, Georgia, and Oregon.
Furlow-Smiles ran diversity, equity, and inclusion programs at Facebook from January 2017 until September 2021. Using her access to company credit cards and payment platforms, she paid friends, relatives, and other associates for goods and services, according to the Justice Department. 
The DOJ said that Furlow-Smiles was aided in the scheme by nannies and babysitters, a hair stylist, and her university tutor.
She later went to work for Nike from November 2021 to February 2023 after she was fired from Facebook. At Nike, Furlow-Smiles was the company’s senior director of diversity, equity, and inclusion, where she was tasked with organizing DEI-related events. 
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While at Nike, she linked her company card to her personal PayPal and Venmo accounts and made up fake expenses for a Juneteenth event to submit fraudulent payment claims. 
“After she was fired, she carelessly continued her fraudulent schemes at Nike, thinking she was untouchable. As a result, she not only threw away a lucrative career, but will serve time behind bars for her excessive greed,” said FBI agent Keri Farley.
The sentencing comes as DEI programs have come under scrutiny at universities and corporations across the country.

MixCollage-17-May-2024-11-15-AM-8896

‘Excessive Greed’: Former Facebook DEI Manager Sentenced To Prison For Stealing $5 Million

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