South Carolina Sports: Gamecocks Cut Ties With Longtime Sponsor CPI Security
By Jacob Elsey
The South Carolina athletic department has parted ways with a longtime sponsor amid comments made by CEO.
The Gamecocks have cut ties with CPI Security after insensitive comments were made by CEO Kenneth Gill following North Carolina protests against racial injustice.
“Please spend your time in a more productive way. I challenge your statistics,” Gill wrote in an email response to Jorge Millares, the executive director of local community group Queen City Unity. “A better use of time, would be to focus on the black on black crime and senseless killing of our young men by other young men.”
Queen City Unity is a Charlotte-based program that works in conjunction with local non-profit organizations in order to promote and achieve equality and equity within the community. They are now calling for local sports teams, like the Charlotte Hornets, to end their relationships with the security company.
South Carolina wasn’t the first team to drop the sponsor. The Gamecocks join the Carolina Panthers and North Carolina State University, each of whom severed their sponsorship associations with CPI following Gill’s remarks. Athletic Director Ray Tanner released a statement regarding the incident over the weekend.
“Today we notified CPI Security that we were ending our corporate sponsorship with their company. Our University and our athletics department stand for equality and justice for all. Our student-athletes, coaches and staff have taken part in peaceful protests and made statements in their support for ending racism and social injustice. We should all be committed to supporting these efforts.”
Gill has since issued an apology for his comments, saying that he “did not directly address the public’s outcry for racial justice and equality in the wake of George Floyd’s senseless killing.”
It will be interesting to see how many other organizations follow suit and cut ties with CPI.