And on Feb. 15, Mr. Plank took out a full-page ad in The Baltimore Sun saying, in part, that his comments “did not accurately reflect my intent.”<br />An Under Armour spokeswoman said that Mr. Plank had since spoken to Mr. Curry, Mr. Johnson<br />and Ms. Copeland and “they all understand the context in which those comments were made.”<br />Mr. Steinberg — who is perhaps best known as being the inspiration for Tom Cruise’s<br />sports agent character in “Jerry Maguire” — was stunned at how it all unfolded.<br />E.O., Kevin Plank, described Mr. Trump’s pro-business approach as “a real asset” to the country, Mr. Curry told The San Jose Mercury News, “I agree with<br />that description, if you remove the ‘et.’” He later said he would not be afraid to leave any company “if it wasn’t in line with who I am.”<br />The reaction was forceful — in support of Mr. Curry.<br />“In days past, what would Under Armour have done?” Mr. Steinberg said.<br />“They would have cut Steph Curry.”<br />The fact that Under Armour did not cut Mr. Curry, and instead reached out to him in a conciliatory manner after<br />his comments, was, to Mr. Steinberg, a sign of a transformative shift in the endorser-endorsee dynamic.<br />“For years, people said athletes are making so much money they have so much to risk that they won’t speak out.<br />But when it came to wading deeper into sociopolitical issues, many of the most prominent athletes — like Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods<br />and Derek Jeter — preferred staying, in Mr. Steinberg’s terms, “scrupulously apolitical.” The reason was often financial.
