Curry embraces fresh role of activist by launching long-form interview series
Fauci, Abrams and Gates among subjects
Stephen Curry is launching a series of long- form interviews focused on the global pandemic and voting ahead of November’s election, the most recent push by an NBA star into civic engagement.
The first video, released Tuesday on Curry’s Youtube channel, is a 20-minute conversation with Bill Gates in which the two talk about the economic fallout from the coronavirus. Future conversations include a discussion with Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about how society will emerge safely from the pandemic. Another is with Stacey Abrams, a voting rights activist and former Democratic Senate candidate in Georgia, about voter suppression and registration. Several others are in the works, Curry said.
Curry and other NBA stars have become increasingly engaged in politics this year. Curry appeared at the Democratic National Convention this summer, while Lebron James launched a new group aimed at protecting the voting rights of African Americans. Players also pushed for NBA arenas to be turned into voting sites.
“We’re trying to bring a conversation and hope people get some actionable items and just information. Because that’s power, at the end of the day,” Curry said in an interview with The Washington Post.
During his discussion with Abrams, Curry asks about the importance of voting, what it means to vote for a third party and asks for instructions about how to register. Fauci offers safety tips for getting through the pandemic. Gates offers advice for young people going on job interviews. (At Microsoft, he says, ask for stock options.)
Curry has publicly criticized President Trump in the past, but the videos, he said, are meant to be more informational than to make a political statement.
“It’s no secret who I endorse in this presidential election: Joe Biden and Kamala ( Harris),” Curry said. “But in terms of how you present that information and backing it up with reason and logic when it comes to the why, it always comes with a tone of respect. I think there’s a lot of hate on either side of the conversation right now and a lot of noise that comes with that hate. But you can endorse a candidate and still foster a conversation.”
He added: “It doesn’t have to be all that throwing fire at everything. I can ridicule everything that’s gone on in the White House but at the end of the day it’s about speaking on what you believe, fighting for what you feel like is right.”
Curry’s Golden State Warriors did not participate in the NBA bubble for the restarted season this summer and fall, but the league’s bubble was heavy on social justice messaging, which Curry said he watched with pride. Of the players’ brief work stoppage at the beginning of the playoffs, Curry said he wasn’t privy to the conversations among the players, but the end result was a win.
“Once they did start to boycott and the chaos that first day, the onus to get something out of it or some actionable item or tangible item that’s going to help the situation was important,” he said. “So even though it was only for two days, we got something out of it. Now you’re seeing NBA stadiums in each market being used as a voting site.”
The league’s coordinated push for social justice has drawn criticism from the political right, including the White House, where Trump has seized on down television to attack the league. Curry dismissed it.
“It’s not like we haven’t been in that conversation for a very long time and used our platform for a very long time,” Curry said. “Guys haven’t gone to the White House in years. It’s not going to stop. ... But, again, it’s how we handle ourselves and continue to speak up. The league is going to be fine.”
Curry filmed an interview with Fauci that aired on his Instagram account at the beginning of the pandemic. After a positive reaction, he said, he wanted to build on it. He founded a production company, Unanimous Media, a few years ago, so “the infrastructure was in place,” Unanimous cofounder and head of content Erick Peyton said. “These are the kinds of ideas we want to develop.”
Given his interest in civic discourse, Curry was asked if he had any interest in a future in politics.
“If you asked me three years ago if I was going to sit down with Bill Gates, Dr. Fauci and Stacey Abrams, I would have laughed at you,” he said. “So, I mean, who knows?”