Arizona Governor to Withdraw Incentives After Nike Pulls 'Betsy Ross' Shoe

Nike Reports Quarterly Earnings

Arizona Governor Doug Ducey says he plans to withdraw any financial incentives for Nike to locate in his state after their decision to pull sneakers that featured an early-era American flag designed by Betsy Ross in celebration of the Fourth of July holiday.

In a Twitter thread explaining his decision, Ducey wrote that words could not express his disappointment at Nike's decision to withdraw the sneakers from store shelves.

"Nike has made its decision, and now we’re making ours. I’ve ordered the Arizona Commerce Authority to withdraw all financial incentive dollars under their discretion that the State was providing for the company to locate here," Ducey wrote Tuesday morning.

"Arizona’s economy is doing just fine without Nike. We don’t need to suck up to companies that consciously denigrate our nation’s history," Ducey added.

Nike has been planning to build a manufacturing plant in Phoenix, which would have brought about 500 jobs to the area. The Goodyear City Council, where the plant would be located, had offered Nike a waiver of up to nearly $1 million in review and permit fees as well as reimburse up to $1 million for the jobs the plant would have created, according to The Arizona Republic.

According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, Nike withdrew the shoe from the shelves Monday night after Colin Kaepernick, who works for the shoe company as an endorser, reached out to Nike's management saying that he and others felt the Betsy Ross flag was an offensive symbol because of its association with slavery and its current association with neo-Nazi groups like the Patriot Movement and Identity Evropa.

In a statement to the Journal, Nike said of the shoes that the company had chosen "not to release the Air Max 1 Quick Strike Fourth of July as it featured the old version of the American flag."

The sneakers were scheduled to be released on Monday and were priced at $140.

Kaepernick became the face of Nike's "Just Do It" campaign last year, with online sales of the sneakers increasing by a dramatic 31 percent in the first week after his endorsement. The former quarterback has become a polarizing figure in the field of sports and politics after he decided not to stand during the national anthem during a 2016 preseason football game to protest racial injustice. Supporters of Kaepernick say his actions were an exercise of his freedom of speech rights.

Photo: Getty Images


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