Politics & Government
New Balance Pro-Trump Comments Spark Backlash
People are trashing shoes from New Balance because they think the Boston company endorsed Donald Trump. (Spoiler: It didn't.)
BOSTON, MA — New Balance is facing a public backlash Thursday after an out-of-context quote convinced some that the Boston company had endorsed President-elect Donald Trump.
Social media has since been populated by images of people throwing out or even apparently burning their sneakers from the company. However, a spokesperson has said the widely shared quote isn't what they think.
New Balance Vice President of Public Affairs Matt LeBretton spoke with a Wall Street Journal reporter about trade. The company has long opposed the Trans-Pacific Partnership, which Trump has vowed to scrap in the first 100 days of his presidency.
Find out what's happening in Bostonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
This per NB VP public affairs. New Balance has publicly opposed TPP. https://t.co/tdKp6o8UyS
— Sara Germano (@germanotes) November 9, 2016
A popular sneaker blog threw up a headline, apparently based on this tweet, claiming NB had endorsed Trump. The blog's fans, well... they ran with it:
Was gonna workout after work today. It can wait until I have a chance to buy a pair of running shoes from a company that doesn't think electing a bigot is a move "in the right direction". #newbalance #boston #myopinion #mychoice #skechers #stillmad
A photo posted by And Then There Was One (@attw1) on Nov 10, 2016 at 9:49am PST
Vote w/your dollars..tends to be more efficient. #newbalance shoes are for Trump supporters. pic.twitter.com/hYMb3COOtV
— mayraromeroferman (@mayraromeroferm) November 10, 2016
If an athlete said the things #Donaldtrump has said he or she would lose that endorsement but @newbalance endorsed him. #GTFOH #newbalance pic.twitter.com/hZemug9Ekz
— Damien Malone (@damedmalone) November 10, 2016
The sneaker blog, Sole Collector, has since edited its story to reflect an update from the company and added context.
Find out what's happening in Bostonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
New Balance also released a statement on Twitter:
pic.twitter.com/biUiwFkNzS
— New Balance (@newbalance) November 10, 2016
Top photo by Satoshi Kobayashi, Flickr/Creative Commons
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
