NBA player Luke Kornet faces backlash over strip club promotion takedown

Sports expert Michelle Beadle went after San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet over his blog post calling on the Atlanta Hawks to end their “Magic City Night” promotion, touting the famous Magic City strip club.

Kornet urged the Hawks to cancel the promotion and suggested NBA players and officials “promote an atmosphere that is protective and respectful of the daughters, wives, sisters, mothers and partners we know and love.”

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San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet (7) reacts during the second quarter against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on March 1, 2026. (Brad Penner/Imagn Images)

Beadle said on his “Beadle & Decker” podcast that Kornet should “take a seat.”

“Luke Kornet, I need you to sit down,” she said. “I love you, this man, because you’re a Spur and that’s how this game works. And all respect to him…he wrote a very long blog about why the Atlanta Hawks should respectfully cancel ‘Magic Monday’….As a woman, I’m not offended by the idea of ‘Magic Monday’. Again, I can’t say it enough, Magic City, for anyone who’s been to Atlanta, it’s not just a bar t—y. I feel like that’s kind of the vibe people are feeling.

“Second, and more importantly, thank you, white knight. We don’t need this. I’m sick of men telling us what we can and shouldn’t and what we should want and what we should need and how we should act. No, no, no, these aren’t 12-year-olds being trafficked, okay? We have that, and none of these people are featured. That’s not it. These are adult women who have a job. I don’t understand, are they?

Michelle Beadle attends the 8th Annual Nike Basketball 3ON3 Tournament at Microsoft Square on August 5, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (Léon Bennett/WireImage)

Kornet wrote that allowing the night to continue “without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, particularly in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society.”

He added that “other people across the league” were surprised by the Hawks’ decision to hold the promotional night.

“We want to provide an environment where fans of all ages can safely come and enjoy basketball and where we can celebrate the history and culture of communities with a clear conscience. Celebrating a strip club is not conduct consistent with this vision,” he wrote.

Luke Kornet of the San Antonio Spurs reaches for the ball during the third quarter against the Brooklyn Nets at Barclays Center on February 26, 2026 in the Brooklyn borough of New York. (Ishika Samant/Getty Images)

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The Hawks have since seen an increase in demand for tickets since the controversy began.

Fox News’ Scott Thompson contributed to this report.

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