Basketball player Ja Morant is realizing that regardless of his talent, all actions have consequences. Sources are saying one of his corporate partnerships is in jeopardy, after flashing a firearm on social media.
According to The Drum, Coca Cola has pulled Morant Powerade ads after he made a social media post where he postured up with a gun at a Colorado strip club on Saturday, Mar. 4.
The significance of this move is the amount of money and resources the brand put into the sports drink’s largest campaign, “From Underestimated to Undeniable,” by dumping the ads with the NBA star.
The ads for the campaign no longer run on YouTube and all of the 60-second ad starring the baller has been made private on the company’s social platforms like Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook.
Up until now, for the incident, Morant has been penalized only by his team and has not been able to play.
The Memphis Grizzlies team has put out a statement on Twitter basically stating at least four more upcoming games, Morant will not be playing.
Statement from the Memphis Grizzlies pic.twitter.com/B3gk6injgK
— Grizzlies PR (@GrizzliesPR) March 8, 2023
Other punishments coming up could be more severe, particularly now that the team’s coach Taylor Jenkins is publicly stating there have been issues with the young baller in the past, the Commercial Appeal reports.
“We have had conversations in the past trying to guide him and help him continue to evolve as a person and as a player,” Jenkins explained after his team’s game against the Golden State Warriors on Thursday, Mar. 9. “Obviously this came to a head the other day. It put this process into action.”
“The hope was that this would have never happened, and everything was as good as it should be, but there have been dialogues about what he’s got to do better and this just came to a head then,” Jenkins said.
So far the 23-year-old athlete has not been hit with criminal charges.