- Real Salt Lake owner Dell Loy Hansen is not happy about his team’s boycott of Wednesday’s game.
- Hansen said he felt disrespected by the move. He said it felt like “being stabbed.”
- Sadly, it’s just another racially disappointing chapter in the story of Utah sports.
Dell Loy Hansen, owner of Utah’s MLS team Real Salt Lake, is hurting.
Is it because another black man was shot in the back? No.
Is it because a teenage gunman murdered two protestors? Nope.
It’s because his players fought for social justice. Hansen is the latest cringe-worthy example of racial apathy in Utah’s professional sports.
Dell Loy Hansen Likens His Plight to “Being Stabbed”
Dell Loy Hansen’s ego was on full display during his interview on the aptly titled “Radio From Hell” program. As Real Salt Lake decided to sit out its Wednesday game in protest of the Jacob Blake shooting, Hansen somehow made it about himself.
Hansen said, “the disrespect was profound to me personally,” adding this ridiculous comment:
It’s like somebody stabbed you and you’re trying to figure out a way to pull the knife out and move forward. That’s what it feels like.
Wow.
Can you smell the privilege? A soccer team protests a man getting shot in the back seven times, and the owner says the protest feels like a stabbing.
Hansen owns a real estate company with a portfolio worth over $3 billion. He also owns a professional soccer team.
And yet, he was upset about his bottom line, quoting the number of employees who showed up to the game, and their hourly wages.
Hansen apparently, values his pocketbooks more than the lives of the victims of ongoing police brutality. Sadly, considering where he lives, this shouldn’t be too shocking.
The Real Salt Lake Incident Is Not a First for Utah
Utah has had its share of racially charged moments. Last year, NBA star Russell Westbrook had a heated exchange with a Utah Jazz fan who he claimed directed “disrespectful” and “racial” comments at him.
At least the Utah Jazz brass acted swiftly and banned the fan for life. Would Dell Loy Hansen have given him front row seats for life?
Westbrook claimed that the fan’s behavior was not new for Utah.
Here in Utah, a lot of disrespectful, vulgar things are said to the players here with these fans.
As early as 2008, Utah Jazz fans were known as “the most disgusting fans in the NBA.”
But maybe that’s about what you can expect in states where less than 2% of the population is black.
Obviously, not everyone in Utah is as racially indifferent as the Real Salt Lake owner. Salt Lake City has a growing Black Lives Matter movement. Sadly, those protestors had a bow and arrow pulled on them by a Utah man. At least Utah sports players, like Donovan Mitchell, are doing their best to spread awareness.
If Utah and Salt Lake City don’t want to be known as another stain on America, the good people of that state should speak up in opposition to people like Dell Loy Hansen.
Disclaimer: The opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of CCN.com.