Mark Cuban made a mistake Monday afternoon. A TMZ camera found him outside a restaurant in California, and the Mavs owner actually stopped and talked to the paparazzo. Quickly, Cuban was talking about the Red Hen restaurant in Virginia and its decision to deny service to White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Although he likely didn't know it at the time, Cuban was about to stir up Trump Twitter, a group that's never met a stupid fight it didn't like.
Here's what Cuban said with regard to the restaurant.
“It’s a good question. You can make an argument on both sides,” he told TMZ. “I don’t know what I would’ve done. More power to them for sticking up for what they believe in. But on the flip side, you don’t want to extend that to minorities, LGBTQ, et cetera. So it’s hard to figure out where that fine line is.”
That comment, the "more power to them" part, led to the following tweet from Mark Dice, whose Wikipedia article describes him as a "American YouTube personality, conspiracy theorist, and author known for his conspiracy theories about secret societies such as The Bilderberg Group, Bohemian Grove events, Satanists and the Illuminati control of the world."
So @mcuban wants to deny Trump supporters from attending @dallasmavs games? He says “More power to them” referring to Red Hen kicking Sarah Huckabee out.
— Mark Dice (@MarkDice) June 25, 2018
After Dice's tweet, Trump Twitter was off to the races.
Some called for the boycott of Shark Tank, CNBC's Cuban-starring startup-pitch show.
Well your buddy Mark doesn’t like us Trump supporters so we won’t be tuning in, good luck on Season 10, it’s probably your last season
— Tara EndTheFed (@TaraEndTheFED) June 25, 2018
Others made sure that Cuban remembered where his team plays its basketball.
@mcuban So you don't welcome conservatives to your companies or @dallasmavs You do realize your team is in Texas, right? If you wanted your team to lose season ticket holders, you just made it happen. Congrats you crazy person, @gop will boycott Mavs. So sad @CityOfDallas
— Jason Westcott (@uhavbadsportsiq) June 25, 2018
This person INsta Blocked the Mavs — whatever that means.
Not wanting to but: INsta Block for Dallas Mavs is now done... Already zapped mcuban...with INsta Block... Not good for our Country when people create this garbage.. The Media has a lot to do with this problem - hourly - daily and nothing stops them.. Paybacks will be messy..
— steve black (@tahoesteveblack) June 25, 2018
And Twitterer Arik Waiz compared Trump to segregationists.
Internet Bubble Boy @mcuban, will soon be installing water fountains for trump supporters at his venue, I heard.
— Arik Walz (@arik_walz) June 25, 2018
Then, of course, there was the hot take from Tigress Lilly, who insists that the Mavericks suck because their players receive appropriate compensation for their work, unlike high school and college basketball players.
Mavericks Suck, Anyways! High School B-Ball Games & College B-Ball Games DON’T have SPOILED MULTIMILLIONAIRES & Wealthy Owners Who Play Political Games. IF Cuban & Staff asks ANY Patrons Their Political Preference, VIOLATES FED LAW! Why RIGHT TO VOTE SECRET BALLOT.
— Tigress Lilly (@TigressLilly1) June 25, 2018
Cuban, of course, has never met a ticket sale he didn't like. He responded to Dice within a half-hour of his tweet, telling him that all people, even YouTube conspiracy theorists, are welcome to see the Mavs at American Airlines Center.
Everyone is always welcome to a @dallasmavs game. Even you Mark ! https://t.co/DVMEvWZx9A
— Mark Cuban (@mcuban) June 25, 2018