And on Feb. 15, Mr. Plank took out a full-page ad in The Baltimore Sun saying, in part, that his comments “did not accurately reflect my intent.”
An Under Armour spokeswoman said that Mr. Plank had since spoken to Mr. Curry, Mr. Johnson
and Ms. Copeland and “they all understand the context in which those comments were made.”
Mr. Steinberg — who is perhaps best known as being the inspiration for Tom Cruise’s
sports agent character in “Jerry Maguire” — was stunned at how it all unfolded.
E.O., Kevin Plank, described Mr. Trump’s pro-business approach as “a real asset” to the country, Mr. Curry told The San Jose Mercury News, “I agree with
that description, if you remove the ‘et.’” He later said he would not be afraid to leave any company “if it wasn’t in line with who I am.”
The reaction was forceful — in support of Mr. Curry.
“In days past, what would Under Armour have done?” Mr. Steinberg said.
“They would have cut Steph Curry.”
The fact that Under Armour did not cut Mr. Curry, and instead reached out to him in a conciliatory manner after
his comments, was, to Mr. Steinberg, a sign of a transformative shift in the endorser-endorsee dynamic.
“For years, people said athletes are making so much money they have so much to risk that they won’t speak out.
But when it came to wading deeper into sociopolitical issues, many of the most prominent athletes — like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods
and Derek Jeter — preferred staying, in Mr. Steinberg’s terms, “scrupulously apolitical.” The reason was often financial.
