The New York Knicks have sent a cease-and-desist letter to Aber Kawas, a Palestinian-American activist who won the Democratic nomination for a Queens state Senate seat on Tuesday after campaigning with stickers styled on the team's logo.
Kawas, who received Zohran Mamdani's backing in her run for the seat, used a custom-made version of the Knicks logo on campaign stickers that read "I voted for Aber Kawas." The stickers featured the same orange-and-blue design as the Knicks' branding, substituting "Knicks" for "Kawas."
According to the New York Post, Brian N. Warner, senior vice president and head of legal for Madison Square Garden Sports, sent the letter to Kawas on Friday night. He said neither the Knicks nor NBA Properties had authorized the campaign to use Knicks intellectual property "in any way, including the Unauthorized Advertisements, which are likely to mislead the public into believing that the Campaign is affiliated with or in some way connected with the Knicks."
Knicks accuse campaign of trademark infringement
Warner's letter said the campaign's activities "constitute, among other things, trademark infringement, trademark dilution, false advertising, false association, and unfair competition."
Kawas promoted the branding in a post on X just days after the Knicks won the NBA championship, writing: "Head to the polls and claim your 'I Voted for Aber Kawas' champion sticker. Earn bragging rights, make your friends jealous, and let everyone know that you're part of our movement to fight for the world in the world's borough."
Past comments on 9/11 draw scrutiny
Kawas has previously drawn criticism for comments downplaying the September 11 attacks as a tragedy "a couple of people did." Speaking at an Asian American Writers' Workshop in 2017, she said: "The system of capitalism and racism and white supremacy and Islamophobia have all been used to colonize lands, to take resources from other people, so this is a long trajectory and we're just seeing the manifestations of that continuation with 9/11."
She also said: "a lot of times when people are asking us to respond about, you know, an attack when if you look back historically, a lot of us come from lands that were colonized and where wars were being waged."
Kawas added: "The idea that we have to apologize for a terror attack that a couple people did and then there is no apology for genocides or slavery is something that I find reprehensible."
Mamdani faced a similar warning
Mamdani attempted a similar logo stunt during his mayoral campaign launch in October, before pulling the ad after receiving an identical warning from the Knicks. Knicks owner James Dolan has also been in a tense dispute with Mamdani's administration over security measures outside Madison Square Garden.
