A New York state Senate candidate backed by a radical Democrat socialist is facing legal heat from the New York Knicks after allegedly hijacking the NBA franchises logo to boost her campaign.
According to WND, the Knicks organization has sent a formal cease-and-desist letter to Aber Kawas, a close ally of far-left New York City Council member Zohran Mamdani, over her use of a doctored version of the teams emblem on social media and campaign stickers during her successful Democratic primary run for a Queens state Senate seat. Kawas, who has drawn outrage for her comments minimizing the 9/11 attacks as something a couple of people did, reportedly mimicked the Knicks distinctive orange-and-blue color scheme, font, and signature basketball design to market herself to voters.
The move underscores how comfortably some on the progressive fringe now blend anti-American rhetoric with cultural appropriation of beloved institutions, even as they seek public office.
Bryan N. Warner of Madison Square Garden Sports, which owns the Knicks, demanded in his letter that the Kawas campaign immediately remove all promotional materials incorporating Knicks Intellectual Property, including but not limited to the unauthorized Advertisements, and cease any further use of Knicks Intellectual Property.
The letter, obtained by the New York Post, stressed that the campaigns use of the teams branding was never authorized and risks misleading the public into believing the Knicks endorse or are affiliated with Kawas candidacy.
Warner warned that the suspected violations include trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition. For a franchise that represents one of the countrys most storied sports brands, the prospect of being tiedhowever indirectlyto a candidate with a record of inflammatory, anti-capitalist rhetoric is no small concern.
Kawas notoriety extends well beyond campaign graphics, rooted in her disturbing framing of the 9/11 Islamist terror attacks that killed nearly 3,000 Americans. In resurfaced remarks, she claimed, The system of capitalism and racism and white supremacy et cetera and Islamophobia have all been used, you know, to colonize lands, to take resources from other people, and so this is a long trajectory and we are just seeing the manifestations of that continuation with 9/11. The idea we have to apologize for like a terror attack that like a couple of people did and then there is no apology or reparations for genocides and for slavery, et cetera is something I find reprehensible.
For many Americans who still remember the horror of that day, hearing a would-be state lawmaker dismiss 9/11 as the work of a couple of people while railing against capitalism and white supremacy raises serious questions about the ideological direction of the Democratic Party in deep-blue enclaves. The Knicks swift legal response may protect their brand, but it also highlights a deeper cultural divide: while corporations and sports leagues are often pressured to bend to progressive politics, this episode shows there are limits when the far left attempts to conscript private property and cherished symbols into its campaign machinery.
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