Nike Answers Civil Rights Group Protest

The co-founder and chairman of Nike Inc. is defending his company’s minority hiring practices against a national boycott by a Chicago-based civil rights group.

In his first comments on the confrontation between Nike and Operation PUSH, Philip H. Knight said PUSH is far too cozy with Reebok International Ltd., Nike’s rival in the athletic shoe market.

Nike’s objections to Reebok’s relationship with PUSH “are not a frivolous diversion,” Knight said in an interview published in today’s edition of the Oregonian newspaper.

Knight declined to elaborate, but when asked about whether the issue ran deeper than the $6,000 ad Reebok ran in the PUSH magazine last month, he said, “I believe so . . . yes.”

Nike was to meet with PUSH leaders this week at company headquarters in Beaverton to discuss affirmative action goals. But Nike abruptly canceled the talks late last week, after learning that Reebok had purchased the ad from PUSH. Nike officials said the ad represented a donation and, therefore, a conflict of interest.

PUSH, in turn, blasted Nike, calling its claim petty. It confirmed the purchase of the ad, but said the conflict-of-interest accusations were untrue and unfounded.

A Reebok spokeswoman said last week that the ad was part of a $500,000 media buy into minority publications and was the company’s only financial dealing with PUSH.

Neither Reebok, based in Canton, Mass., nor PUSH officials were available Tuesday afternoon to respond to Knight’s remarks.