It was 2017. Tensions in the U.S. were high, and Michael Rubin knew it.
Still, the Fanatics CEO, and minority owner of the NBA’s Sixers and NHL’s Devils, saw what was happening to his friend, rapper Meek Mill, and thought it was worth the fight, and all that’d come with it. Mill had been sentenced to two to four years in prison for violating probation, a penalty that, in the opinion of Rubin and many others, far outweighed the crime.
The problem for Rubin was that going to bat for the star musician wouldn’t just mean enduring backlash personally. It’d also make things difficult on those around him, and especially those with the teams he co-owned. Which is why before starting the effort to free Mill, or really do anything related to the case at all, Rubin had to go to the principal owner of those two teams, Josh Harris, for a talk.
