Nike reviewing Grace Tame brand deal over anti-Israel, pro-Palestine rants
Controversial former Australian of the Year Grace Tame’s relationship with Nike is at risk, with the global sporting goods giant reviewing her role as brand ambassador after her recent rants attacking Israel and supporting the plight of Palestinians in Gaza.
Nike continues to endorse Ms Tame, an accomplished top-level distance runner, but has seemingly run out of patience after a series of increasingly inflammatory anti-Israel, pro-Palestine attacks.
With more than 250,000 Instagram followers and a sporting and political profile that garners attention wherever she goes, Ms Tame’s comments have spurred Nike to launch an investigation into her social media posts about Israel, and to consider whether she is worthy of staying on as a sponsored athlete, The Australian reports.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“Nike does not stand for any form of discrimination, including anti-Semitism,” a Nike spokesperson said on Monday.
“We take this matter very seriously and are in touch with Grace’s team to understand the matter further.”
Ms Tame has spent weeks expressing her contempt for Israel, posting claims of “ethnic cleansing”, “genocide” and boosting the view that anyone who supports the country is participating in a “legitimisation of Jewish supremacist ethnonationalism”.
Recently Ms Tame reposted a statement from Palestinian writer Mohammed el-Kurd, in which he appeared to condone the murder of two Israeli embassy officials in Washington and attacked journalists who reported that the slayings were an act of “anti-Semitism”.
“The media class is scrambling to reframe the shooting that targeted two Israeli state officials as a random antisemitic attack,” Tame reposted to her 260,000 followers.
“Even though it was undeniably, and by the alleged shooter’s own admission, a response to the ongoing Israeli assault on Gaza, which killed ONE HUNDRED AND SEVEN Palestinians in the last 24 hours ALONE.”
Last month she shared a stage with Randa Abdel-Fattah, who asserts that Zionists have “no claim or right to cultural safety”.
As the verbal volley’s keep on coming from Ms Tame, a pointer that she is likely to part ways with the Nike family, is that all the stores in Australia are wholly owned by Harel Wiesel’s Fox Group, a retail chain headquartered in Israel and listed on the Tel Aviv stock exchange.
Its subsidiary, Retailors Ltd, purchased the master franchise licence from Retail Prodigy Group last year.
Grace Tame has been contacted by The Nightly for comment.
