A legendary Magic City dancer tells TMZ Sports it's clear Luke Kornet's never visited the strip club ... 'cause if he did, he wouldn't have criticized the Atlanta Hawks' promotion honoring the place.
We spoke with Gigi Maguire -- one of Magic City's greatest performers -- this week to discuss the noise surrounding the NBA team promoting her former workplace during their game against the Orlando Magic on March 16.
Kornet -- a Kentucky native
and San Antonio Spurs center -- called the tribute disrespectful to women ... but Maguire argues that Luke and other critics have never truly experienced Magic City, so their judgment is based only on what they've seen in movies."He should see it for himself," Maguire said. "I think that a lot of people that have a negative in their mind about strip are the ones that have never been."
"They see movies like 'Players Club' and 'Hustle & Flow,' and, you know, they see that the dancers are disrespected in media and they see the dancers are portrayed to have drug problems and stuff like that, and they think that's what it really is, and I'm here to tell you that it's not bad. It's not that at all."
Maguire -- who retired from Magic City and is now a businesswoman, producer, and voice on Angela Yee's "Lip Service" podcast -- stressed that there will be no naked strippers at the game, leaving her puzzled by the outrage over the Hawks' tribute.
"It's not that deep. It's one night," Maguire said, "Can adults have one night to celebrate something that is very important to the city of Atlanta?"
She also called out Kornet for "selective outrage," noting he hasn't had the same energy when NBA players have been accused of wrongdoing toward women in the past.
We also spoke to another Magic City legend about the backlash over Hawks' tribute night ... Sonya Meadows, known on stage as Platinum. The now-author said stripping isn't disrespectful to women -- it's entertainment, just like Cirque du Soleil.
"We can't put a stigma on entertainment," Meadows said.
Will these two ladies put a stop to the backlash?? Highly doubtful ... but it's clear they are passionate about setting the record straight.
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