Buffalo Bills safety Jordan Poyer announced that his yearly golf charity event had been canceled due to backlash over the location.
The tournament was scheduled to be played at the Blue Monster at Trump National in South Florida on July 10th, but Poyer said that sponsors and teams dropped out because the former president owns the golf course.
“I was really excited for this tournament,” he began in an Instagram video on Saturday.
“It was going to be at one of my favorite courses, the Blue Monster at Trump National in Doral.”
Official statement in regards to the Jordan Poyer Celebrity Open. pic.twitter.com/PArCYapYHT
— Avalon Sports (@GroupAvalon) June 24, 2023
“Unfortunately, there have been a numerous amount of teams up north that have pulled out of the tournament,” he detailed.
He explained that beyond dropping out, they wrote emails to “a big sponsor” of the tournament, which caused that company to back out as well.
“It’s unfortunate that they have pulled out and decided that they don’t want to take part in my tournament, in which they took part in last year, because of where it’s at, Trump National in Doral,” the pro-bowler detailed.
There goes JORDAN POYER! #BUFvsTEN | #BillsMafia pic.twitter.com/AU9QBglwZL
— Buffalo Bills (@BuffaloBills) October 19, 2021
The “big sponsor” was actually a beneficiary of the event, the Erie County Medical Center, according to the Buffalo News.
“ECMC Foundation was fortunate to be a beneficiary of Jordan Poyer’s golf tournament in Florida,” spokesperson Susan Gonzalez said in a statement to the outlet.
“Although the Foundation was not a sponsor, we have had an excellent partnership with Jordan, and we respect his decision to cancel his tournament; we hope he will consider supporting us in his future events.”
Poyer believes that the fault doesn’t lie with the foundation, rather “pressure” from their liberal benefactors.
“ECMC decided they can no longer take the pressure from up top, from the people above them, and it probably has nothing to do with ECMC at all,” he remarked.
Lmao Jordan Poyer threw Landrys ass on the ground like a rag doll 😂 pic.twitter.com/8RYvO3GWBf
— gscool89 (@gscool89) August 22, 2018
“I’m really thankful and blessed to have worked with the people that I have worked with at ECMC in the past two years,” the ten year NFL veteran continued graciously.
Poyer said the reaction seems like “this is just the way America is right now,” and that as a nation, we can no longer share laughter, love, and conversation with people on the other side of the aisle.
“I’m not naïve. I understand where they are on the political spectrum, where New York is on the political spectrum,” he said about the turn of events. “Do I agree with a lot of it? No, I don’t. I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
Poyer is dismayed that his efforts to help others have been thwarted over politics.
“I’m a big believer in the universal law that the energy you put out is the energy you get back, and we’re not doing that right now,” he stated.
“All we do is fight with each other all day. Fight with each other about politics, about religion, about race.”
“The issues that come up are the issues we create. … It blows my fricken’ mind that we sit here in America today with these issues,” Poyer added.
Avalon Sports, who was organizing the celebrity tournament noted that Poyer had been working on the event for six months in an effort to raise funds for the Buffalo community.
The organization also pointed out that the golf course in question was where Tiger Woods won The Doral Open back-to-back years in 2005 and 2006.
“Unfortunately, we were sadly surprised by negative comments by some individuals to make this a political battle and continue to divide our community,” their statement read on Twitter.
“We condemn any type of violence and stand by Jordan as he continues to work to make a positive impact and be a role model for our community.”