Even with Donald Trump’s presidential election lead narrowing in Texas, owner Mark Cuban has angered some of his Dallas Mavericks fanbase with anti-Trump comments.
Via NBC’s Dallas-Fort Worth affiliate:
“You know what, when it’s all said and done, I’d rather lose every penny than have Trump as president because I care more about the future of my family, my children than I do about my pocketbook,” Cuban said. “And so if it means we play to empty arenas, I’m down with that.”
When Trump announced his presidential candidacy in 2015, Cuban said the real estate mogul and reality TV star was “probably the best thing to happen to politics in a long, long time.” Since then, Cuban has turned completely, becoming a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
“I’ve been apolitical my entire adult life and only because I know Donald and I know my feelings about what he would be like as president have I gotten this involved,” Cuban said, “but come November 9, it’s all Mavs all the time.”
In July, Cuban took shots at Trump on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and endorsed Clinton a few days later.
The Clinton campaign gave Cuban a front-row seat at the first presidential debate Sep. 26. During that debate, Trump said his avoidance of federal taxes “makes me smart.”
Cuban, who’s $3.3 billion net worth rivals Trump’s $3.7 billion, tore into Trump’s comment after the debate:
“I get audited every year my taxes are — it takes me 45 minutes just to sign all the different taxes that I have to spend. And I tell my tax lawyers and everybody, you know, take advantage of — do what the law recommends. But I’m not against paying taxes. And I’ll give you a perfect example. When the Dallas Mavericks were building a new practice facility which was just opening I had the opportunity to go to Dallas and and play different cities against each other to get different rebates and everything. I didn’t do it. A couple years ago we had some issues in Dallas, I just wrote a check to the general treasury. This year we had, after the shootings in Orlando, I had concerns about the LGBT community in Dallas. I just wrote a million dollar check to the city of Dallas to support a bunch of different programs. I’m, I’m the luckiest guy in the world. There’s nobody who’s been as blessed as me and my family, so far, knock on wood, is healthy, and at some point you have to realizes you have to give back. And you have to realize that this is a country that’s been great to us. And you can’t just take, take, take, take, take, take.”
Cuban said he has already submitted an early vote for Clinton and won’t put the Mavericks in any Trump hotels this season.
