The Knicks have fired off a “stop and desist” letter to America-hating state Senate candidate Aber Kawas, threatening to slap her with a lawsuit for ripping a web page out of fellow comrade and NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s playbook and utilizing the NBA champs’ iconic brand to spice up her marketing campaign, The Put up has realized.
Aber Kawas – a Mamdani-backed, Democratic Socialist of America member who as soon as described 9/11 as a terror assault {that a} “couple individuals did” – tried to win over voters by utilizing a doctored model of the Knicks brand on social media posts and marketing campaign stickers all through her major run, which ended together with her clinching the Democratic nomination for a Queens state Senate seat on Tuesday.
Brian N. Warner, senior vp and head of authorized for Madison Sq. Backyard Sports activities, despatched the letter to Kawas’ marketing campaign Friday night time “demand[ing]” it “instantly take away all promotional supplies incorporating Knicks Mental Property, together with however not restricted to the unauthorized Commercials, and stop any additional use of Knicks Mental Property.”
“Neither the Knicks nor NBA [Properties] have licensed the Marketing campaign to make use of Knicks Mental Property in any approach, together with the Unauthorized Commercials, that are prone to mislead the general public into believing that the Marketing campaign is affiliated with, sponsored or endorsed by, or not directly linked with the Knicks,” he wrote within the letter solely obtained by The Put up.
“The Marketing campaign’s actions on this regard represent, amongst different issues, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false promoting, false affiliation, and unfair competitors.”
Kawas’ shameless bid to make use of the Knicks success and recognition for her personal profit features a June 20 marketing campaign message on X – posted every week after the Knicks gained their first NBA Finals championship in 53 years.
It makes use of a brand with the slogan “I Voted for Aber Kawas” that options the identical font, orange-and-blue colours, and iconic basketball because the Knicks brand — however replaces the staff’s title with “Kawas.”
“Head to the polls to say your “I Voted for Aber Kawas” champion sticker,” the submit additionally says, whereas that includes a basketball emoji. “Earn bragging rights, make your pals jealous, and let everybody know that you simply’re a part of our motion to struggle for the world on the earth’s borough.
Mamdani tried to drag the identical slick trick in October whereas campaigning for mayor, airing an advert throughout the staff’s season opener that featured an altered brand replacing the phrase “Knicks” with “Zohran.”
Mamdani pulled the advert after the staff slammed him with a “stop and desist” letter and confused it wasn’t making any endorsements within the race.
Billionaire Knicks and MSG proprietor James Dolan — a longtime buddy of President Donald Trump — received right into a public feud earlier this month with the Mamdani administration over cancelled fan watch events outdoors MSG throughout the NBA Finals attributable to city-imposed safety measures.
The strain spilled over into awkward public exchanges by either side throughout the staff’s June 18 victory parade and Metropolis Corridor ceremony honoring the Knicks, which Mamdani hosted and Dolan attended.
Kawas is a former intern for the Council on American-Islamic Relations who has remained affiliated with the controversial Muslim charity via her activism for greater than a decade.
She has come below hearth for incendiary feedback about 9/11, which resurfaced on X final 12 months after information of Mamdani’s reported help for her marketing campaign got here to gentle.
“The system of capitalism and racism and white supremacy et cetera — and Islamophobia — have all been used, , to colonize lands, to take sources from different individuals, and so it is a lengthy trajectory and we’re simply seeing the manifestations of that continuation … with 9/11,” she stated in an unearthed video section posted by Australian political activist Drew Pavlou.
“The thought we’ve to apologize for like a terror assault that like a few individuals did after which there isn’t a apology or reparations for genocides and for slavery, et cetera — is one thing I discover reprehensible,” she added.
The far left pol additionally believes federal holidays aren’t any trigger for celebration, The Put up reported in December.
“Whether or not it’s July 4th, Thanksgiving, Veterans, Columbus or now Labor Day, we get pleasure from days off which are alleged to be victories for individuals, after they actually characterize the silencing & destruction of our actions,” the longtime Palestinian-American activist wrote in a web based journal posted on Sept. 7, 2015 — Labor Day.
“Immediately I don’t have fun a break day, I solely recommit myself to a worldwide motion that fights towards the loss of life, displacement, and exploitation of individuals for capital.”
Kawas marketing campaign didn’t instantly return messages.
A MSG rep stated the letter speaks for itself and declined additional remark.
