Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank Clarifies His Pro-Trump Comments With an Open Letter to Baltimore
Plank took out a full-page ad in today’s ‘Baltimore Sun.’
Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank started a firestorm on social media after offering up some decidedly pro-Donald Trump comments in a CNBC interview last week. “To have such a pro-business president is something that is a real asset for the country. People can really grab that opportunity,” said Plank. “He wants to build things, he wants to make bold decisions and be really decisive. I’m a big fan of people that operate in the world of publish and iterate versus think, think, think, think, think.”
And it wasn’t just Twitter that reacted. Almost immediately, two-time reigning NBA MVP Stephen Curry responded to Plank’s sentiment — “I agree with that description, if you remove the ‘et’ from ‘asset’” — while fellow UA star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson posted a lengthy response of his own on Instagram, stating “…these are neither my words, nor my beliefs. His words were divisive and lacking in perspective. Inadvertently creating a situation where the personal political opinions of UA’s partners and its employees were overshadowed by the comments of its CEO.” Naturally, Under Armour tried to put out the flames with a couple of brief statements in the days that followed, but today it went a step further as Plank himself took out a full-page ad in the Baltimore Sun to clarify his comments with an open letter.
“We believe that immigration is a source of strength, diversity and innovation for global companies based in America like Under Armour,” Plank proclaims in the piece. “We are publicly opposing the travel ban… We are taking other public positions on legislation around the country in support of the interest of our teammates whenever policy conflicts with human rights.” Oddly enough, however, Plank’s open letter never mentions President Trump — with whom the Under Armour CEO met at the White House last month alongside 27 other business leaders as a part of Trump’s manufacturing jobs initiative — by name.
Ultimately, Plank’s pro-Trump comments last week were perceived as being especially ill-timed considering Under Armour’s stock had plummeted 25% just one week prior following poor sales in the fourth quarter of 2016, as well as the announcement of less than stellar projections for the year ahead.
You can read the UA CEO’s open letter below in its entirety.
