Turns Out, Don King Likes All Flags — Not Just Israeli Ones

Image by Getty

Why is boxing promoter Don King always toting around an Israeli flag?

King was spotted earlier this month brandishing an Israeli flag at a Donald Trump event — and at the first presidential debate last night he also had one by his side.

Don King on what Trump has to do to give Clinton the knock out punch: “Sit down, pray, get himself together.” pic.twitter.com/fwqoK3MWjx

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— J.D. Durkin (@jiveDurkey) September 27, 2016

King has praised Israel in the past. “I love Israel and I love the Jewish people. I think that their struggle has a great commonality with our struggle,” he told the Jerusalem Post in 2008. In that 2008 interview, he was also waving an Israeli flag.

But King’s penchant for flag-waving goes beyond support for Israel. His collection of flags includes colors from all over the world. It’s discussed, and lampooned, in boxing circles, where King is largely seen as a once-influential, now diminished celebrity. The site Bad Left Hook called King, “little more than an exuberant collector of miniature flags.”

Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum