Sportswriter fired after disparaging NBA team’s tweet supporting Israel
The Philadelphia 76ers’ court at the Wells Fargo Center. Photo by Tim Nwachukwu/Getty Images
By Louis Keene October 9, 2023
Dozens of official social media accounts belonging to American professional sports leagues and franchises have expressed support for Israel since Hamas attacks on Saturday killed at least 900 Israelis.
A sportswriter took exception to one such statement by the team he covers. He lost his job for it.
Jackson Frank, a veteran NBA blogger who was recently hired by PhillyVoice to write about the Philadelphia 76ers, responded to the Sixers’ Oct. 8 post on X, formerly known as Twitter, which read, “We stand with the people of Israel and join them in mourning the hundreds of innocent lives lost to terrorism at the hands of Hamas,” and included the hashtag #StandWithIsrael.
Frank replied: “This post sucks! Solidarity with Palestine always.” The post received at least 18,000 views before Frank deactivated his account, according to a screenshot from the New York Post. The account had more than 34,000 followers.
PhillyVoice CEO Hal Donnelly told the Post that Frank was no longer employed by the publication as of Oct. 9.
“We stand with everyone who is absolutely outraged by the senseless attacks in Israel, by the loss of innocent lives and violence against civilians,” Donnelly said.
Frank did not immediately reply to a request for comment from the Forward emailed Monday.
Frank’s defenders
News of his termination infuriated some of Frank’s colleagues in the NBA Twittersphere, who defended his character and the controversial post.
.@thephillyvoice fired my good friend, jackson frank, after he moved nearly 3,000 miles cross country for his first full-time sports writing gig for merely expressing solidarity with a people who are mourning the loss of 90+ children killed by israeli forces in the last 48hrs. https://t.co/gM2HTAgvOW
— josh! (@queersocialism) October 9, 2023
“Jackson Frank is an incredible writer and much more importantly he is consistent in voicing his support for the oppressed,” wrote Rory Breasil, a writer for the sports betting site Covers. “Expressing solidarity with Palestine cost him a job he worked hard for years of his life to earn. That is outrageous.”
Former Raptors beat writer Anthony Doyle wrote, “Jackson Frank has always been an incredible dude who is one of the best minds covering basketball, and who genuinely cares about the world around him and shows compassion for people in need. He deserves way better.”
According to one X user who described itself as a friend of Frank’s, the sports writer had only just moved across the country for the PhillyVoice job, his first full-time sports writing gig.
Another tweet declared, “i am ~*~ A JEW ~*~ who is proud and honored to call jackson my friend. he has a million times more courage and moral fortitude than i do.”
The NBA, NHL, MLB and NFL have all posted statements supporting Israel and condemning terrorism on Instagram or X in recent days.
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