Wednesday’s Mashup: Thousands sign petition calling for Gillette to drop stadium sponsorship after Robert Kraft charged with soliciting prostitution

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Welcome to Wednesday’s Morning Mashup. For the latest news, start at our WEEI.com home page or click here for the top stories from our news wire. 

WEDNESDAY’S BROADCAST HIGHLIGHTS:MLB Exhibition: Pittsburgh vs. Boston, 1:05 p.m. (ESPN, WEEI-AM 850)MLB Exhibition: Cleveland at LA Dodgers, 9 p.m. (MLB Network)NBA: Philadelphia at Chicago, 8 p.m. (ESPN)NBA: Boston at Sacramento, 10 p.m. (NBCSB)NBA: Denver at LA Lakers, 10:30 p.m. (ESPN)NHL: Washington at Philadelphia, 7:30 p.m. (NBCSN)NHL: St. Louis at Anaheim, 10 p.m. (NBCSN) 

AROUND THE WEB:

-- A petition has been started calling for Gillette to remove its sponsorship of the Patriots’ Foxboro stadium after Robert Kraft was charged with soliciting prostitution.

Over 13,000 have signed the petition, which was started by Care2, a social networking site aimed at promoting “progress, kindness, and lasting impact.”

According to the petition’s website on Wednesday morning, only 229 of the 13,481 signatures were from people in Massachusetts.

Gillette changed its slogan to "The Best Man Can Be" recently in a viral video in the wake of the #MeToo movement.

“Robert Kraft believed his power would protect him from being held accountable for exploiting vulnerable women forced into sex slavery. This is exactly the kind of behavior Gillette said it will stand against,” Care2's Rebecca Gerber said. “It's nice to see a brand use their influence for good, but now it's time to see if they will actually back up their words with action.”

Procter & Gamble has had the naming rights to the stadium since 2002 and signed a 15-year extension in 2010 that includes exclusive naming and sponsorship rights of Gillette Stadium until the 2031 NFL season.

-- Shaquille O’Neal did not mince words when talking about the Celtics’ recent issues on Tuesday, placing the blame for the problems on Kyrie Irving.

“When you’re the man, a lot of responsibility comes with that, and the main responsibility is your team has to play well. … Right now, since the All-Star break, they’re not playing well, and I’m going to go on record and say it’s his fault. Because when we’re the superstars and the team don’t play well, it’s always our fault,” O’Neal said on TNT. “It’s our job to get it fixed.”

"As a superstar, the best decision I ever made in my life was to let the young dogs play."Shaq weighs in on Kyrie and the Celtics pic.twitter.com/P3O4ZV0hpW

— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) March 6, 2019

“It’s a simple fix,” he continued. “We’re all superstars up here and we all did one thing to make us great and make our teams, our players great. Sacrifice. Sometimes, Kyrie does a little too much.”

The Celtics might be finding their groove now, however, as they beat the Warriors 128-95 on Tuesday night.

QUOTE OF THE DAY: “I think Kyrie has obviously had an incredible year. He's a six-time All-Star, he was an All-Star again and he was a no-brainer. I also think he has shouldered a heavy, heavy load and there's a lot that comes with that. And there's a lot of stress that comes with that.” -- Brad Stevens, on Kyrie Irving getting blamed for the Celtics’ issues