The 2024 Democratic National Convention opened in Chicago on Monday night as the party officially selects sitting Vice President Kamala Harris as its nominee for the 2024 U.S. presidential election. Joe Biden was the headline speaker to close out night one, but there were some big names opening up for him, including Golden State Warriors head coach Steve Kerr.
Kerr is a newly-minted gold medal winner after leading Team USA on an indelible run to the top of the podium at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Kerr won five championships as a player, and four more as a head coach, but one could argue his finest moment was his impassioned plea to stop gun violence in the wake of the Uvalde elementary school massacre in 2022. Kerr made sense as a speaker with his recent Olympics experience and his ties to Chicago as a member Michael Jordan’s Bulls dynasty, and delivered an impressive speech that is earning praise all over social media.
Kerr came out the Bulls’ starting lineup music, which has been the only consistently good thing about the Bulls since Jordan’s second retirement.
Kerr ended his speech by hitting Republican nominee Donald Trump with Stephen Curry’s signature “night, night” celebration that he famously busted out at the Olympics.
Kerr spoke about why it’s important for him to speak out despite the polarizing nature of politics.
Steve Kerr: “I know very well that speaking out about politics these days comes with risks. I can see the ‘shut up and whistle’ tweets fired off as we speak. But I also knew as an American citizen that it was too important not to speak up in an election of his magnitude.” pic.twitter.com/ETqQJqHKSB
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) August 20, 2024
Kerr also had some fun with VP nominee Tim Walz’s history as a high school football coach. Kerr knows ball when it comes to the gridiron, too.
Kerr also spoke about his Olympics experience:
Kerr: Nine days ago, 12 incredible American men came together to win a gold. And the next night, I was back in that same building watching 12 more of the best players on Earth, our incredible American women do the same thing. pic.twitter.com/lLTcELvszh
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 20, 2024
Kerr’s father was killed by political gun violence when he was 18 years old. Now 58 years old, Kerr is pretty good at this whole coaching basketball thing, but it sure seems like he could have a future in politics if he really wanted it.