Kalshi, a prediction market company, is facing backlash for an America 250 advertising campaign that has been criticized for its insensitive portrayal of Jackie Robinson’s struggle to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier.

Veteran journalist Hazel Trice Edney accused Kalshi of turning Jackie Robinson’s struggle into a gambling line in an op-ed published in the New Pittsburgh Courier. Edney wrote that the campaign presents major moments in American history as hypothetical prediction markets, including one that asks, ‘Will Baseball End Segregation?’ and assigns the outcome a 0% chance in 1946.

Criticism of the Ad

Edney called the campaign insulting because it frames segregation and Robinson’s treatment as potential sources of gambling profit. She also pointed out that the ad includes a quote from Hall of Fame pitcher Bob Feller questioning Robinson’s ability to play in the major leagues and an illustration of young Black men sitting on a stoop as one tosses a baseball into the air.

Kalshi’s campaign has been criticized on social media, with some users calling it ‘bleak’ and ‘offensive.’ Freelance sports writer Ben Pfeifer posted, ‘we just cannot continue as a society with this kind of stuff out in the wild and nothing being done about it.’

Kalshi founder Luana Lopes Lara has defended the campaign, calling it her ‘favorite campaign.’ However, Edney argued that the campaign reveals a worldview in which nothing is sacred enough to be exempt from the wager.

Original reporting: KTBS 3 (Shreveport) — read the source article.