State Farm pulls sponsorship of Los Angeles Clippers?
By Josh Sanchez
UPDATE No. 2: State Farm has said that they are suspending their relationship with the Clippers, but will leave the door open. State Farm CEO Ed Rust was not the man who made comments on ESPN radio this morning. It is believed that the comments were made by Steve Stout who is CEO of Translation, a marketing and branding firm that does some work for State Farm.
“We are monitoring the situation and we’ll continually assess our options. We have a great relationship with Chris Paul and will continue supporting the Born to Assist advertising campaign involving Chris and now other NBA players,” State Farm said in a statement.
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UPDATE No. 1: Jason McIntyre reports that State Farm “wants to pull their sponsorship” of the Clippers, but they have yet to officially do so. Meanwhile, Bryan May of KXTV (ABC) News10 says that both State Farm and Carmax have pulled their sponsorships of the team.
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The fallout from Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist comments continues to loom large, and it has cost the team a very big sponsorship. On Monday, during an appearance on “The Herd” with Colin Cowherd, the CEO of State Farm appeared to discuss his company’s sponsorship of the Clippers.
As it turns out, State Farm will no longer serve as a sponsor for the team due to Sterling’s insensitive and unacceptable remarks.
Yes, that will likely mean no more “Cliff Paul.”
With the big decision by State Farm to distance themselves from Sterling and the Clippers organization, it would not be surprising to see more companies follow in their footsteps.
The Clippers will continue to deal with the negative backlash that was caused by their bigot owner, until the NBA and his fellow owners take a stand that could cost him the team.