NBA commissioner Adam Silver canceled a Magic City in-arena promotion night from the Atlanta Hawks. Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images; Atlanta Hawks (Magic City promo) Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images; Atlanta Hawks (Magic City promo)
By Matt Clapp on

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced on Monday night that the league has canceled an in-arena promotion that the Atlanta Hawks planned for March 16 to celebrate Magic City, a famous Atlanta strip club that the Hawks referred to as an “iconic cultural institution.”

“When we became aware of the Atlanta Hawks’ scheduled promotion, we reached out to Hawks leadership to better understand their plans and rationale,” Silver said in the league’s statement on Monday. “While we appreciate the team’s perspective and their desire to move forward, we have heard significant concerns from a broad array of league stakeholders, including fans, partners and employees. I believe canceling this promotion is the right decision for the broader NBA community.”

The Hawks released a statement in response to the league’s decision.

“While we are disappointed in the NBA’s decision to cancel our Magic City Night promotion, we fully respect its decision. As a franchise, we remain committed to celebrating the best of Atlanta — with authenticity — in ways that continue to unite and bring us all together.”

The Hawks planned to pay tribute to Magic City during a game against the Orlando Magic by serving the adult entertainment club’s famous lemon pepper wings, selling exclusive merchandise, and having a halftime performance by Atlanta native T.I.

The T.I. performance will still happen, according to the Hawks.

On March 2, San Antonio Spurs center Luke Kornet wrote a blog post accusing the Magic City promotion of contributing to “mistreatment of women” and suggested that the promotion should be canceled.

“Allowing this night to go forward without protest would reflect poorly on us as an NBA community, specifically in being complicit in the potential objectification and mistreatment of women in our society,” Kornet wrote.

Stephen A. Smith, while admitting that he’s been to Magic City, supported Kornet’s thoughts, adding that “optics matter” for the NBA and the “inordinate amount of partners, sponsors, advertisers, etc., that connect with and associate themselves and ingratiate themselves with the NBA brand.”

Michelle Beadle noted that Magic City is “not just a titty bar” and added, “I’ve had enough 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.”

The NBA’s decision has been met by plenty of reaction on social media, especially while the league has been plagued by various issues that continue.

the list of the most impactful substack posts of all time now starts after Luke Kornet

— Gregg Rosenthal (@greggrosenthal.bsky.social) March 9, 2026 at 2:48 PM

About Matt Clapp

Matt is an editor/writer at The Comeback and Awful Announcing.

He can be reached by email at mclapp@thecomeback.com.

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