On August 26, 2020, some professional athletes in the United States began to go on strike for their respective sports contests in response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
[4][5] As a result of the shooting of Blake and the protests which followed, on August 26, professional athletes refused to play in their scheduled sports events, beginning with the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA).
[8] In response to the athlete strikes, nine National Football League (NFL) teams canceled their scheduled practices on August 27, 2020.
[13] The precedent for the NBA allowing the players to protest wearing the I Can't Breathe T-shirt was set in 2014 after the police killing of Eric Garner.
[14] In response to the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin, professional athletes in the United States walked out of and refused to play in their scheduled sporting events.
[20] The Toronto Raptors had also discussed a walkout of their second-round playoff series with the Boston Celtics in frustration with a lack of social or legislative change after the murder of George Floyd and as a result of Blake's shooting.
[30] In Major League Baseball on August 26, a game between the Milwaukee Brewers and Cincinnati Reds was stopped by striking players.
[45][46] On August 26, Naomi Osaka of the Women's Tennis Association announced she would not play in the Cincinnati Open semifinals as part of the protest following the shooting of Jacob Blake.
[48] Following the lead of professional athletes, several college football programs including Texas, Oklahoma, Texas Tech, Kentucky, South Florida, Boston College, Western Kentucky, Appalachian State, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and Baylor either canceled practice or staged a walkout on August 27 and 28.
[49] In an August 27 interview with CNN, Marc Short, Chief of Staff to Vice President Mike Pence, said, "If they want to protest, I don't think we care" when commenting on the NBA walkout in support of social justice reforms after the police shooting of Jacob Blake.
[50] On August 27, retired Chicago Bears linebacker and Hall of Famer Brian Urlacher made a post to Instagram criticizing NBA players for staging walkouts of playoff games over the police shooting of Jacob Blake and stating "Patriot Lives Matter", attracting significant criticism.
"[53] Real Salt Lake and Utah Royals owner Dell Loy Hansen criticized players taking part in the strike and stated that "the disrespect is profound to me personally".