Controversies
Zirin has repeatedly called for sports boycotts of certain teams, states, or nations for political reasons.
On April 27, 2010, writing for The Guardian, Zirin called for a boycott against sports teams from Arizona, in particular the Diamondbacks, to protest the Arizona SB 1070, the Support Our Law Enforcement and Safe Neighborhoods Act. He did however express tremendous enthusiasm and support during the 2010 NBA Playoffs for the Phoenix Suns, who went by "Los Suns" as a statement against the Arizona immigration law.
On June 2, 2010, writing for The Nation, Zirin justified the decision of the Turkish U-19 soccer team to boycott a match against Israel. He described the Gaza flotilla raid as an act of state terror committed by the Israeli government and proposed a boycott of Israel.
On October 6, 2011, during a live interview conducted on the sports cable television network, ESPN, Zirin referred to Hank Williams, Jr. as a racist and proslavery after Williams ‒ the writer and singer of ESPN's then-Monday Night Football theme song ‒ made a political statement in which he seemingly compared multiracial US President Barack Obama to former German national socialist leader, Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, ESPN canceled Williams' long-running theme song ‒ a reworking of his 1984 hit, All My Rowdy Friends Are Coming Over Tonight; while Williams stated that he had actually "quit" the network before ESPN's decision had been made.
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