In late 2019, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests against the Fugitive Offenders bill, which would have allowed extradition to jurisdictions with which Hong Kong did not have extradition agreements, including mainland China and Taiwan. Concern grew among Hong Kong residents that Hong Kong’s autonomy would be undermined if they were exposed to China’s legal system, primarily due to a lack of confidence in China’s judiciary system and human rights protection due to its history of suppressing political dissent.
Houston Rockets owner Tillman Fertitta criticized Morey’s tweet stressing that the Rockets were not a political organization and there were rumors around the NBA that Morey might lose his job due to the larger effects of his tweet. The Chinese Basketball Association suspended its relationship with the Rockets and China stopped broadcasting NBA games, putting their monetary investment in the NBA in jeopardy. The salary cap in the NBA has experienced a boom over the last half-decade, largely due to a new TV deal signed in 2014 but didn’t take effect until the 2016-2017 season. In July 2019, Chinese corporation Tencent Holdings Ltd. signed a 5-year/$1.5 billion deal with the NBA to stream games in China. The absence of China’s NBA broadcasts would greatly harm the NBA’s financial situation (and they have), which is probably why the NBA said that Morey’s tweet was “regrettable”.
Adding fuel to the fire, many NBA players who had spoken out on domestic social issues like gun violence and police brutality found themselves hesitant to criticize a country when their opinions would jeopardize their business interests. James Harden straight-up apologized to China saying, “We apologize. You know, we love China. We love playing there.” Steph Curry and Steve Kerr did not want to comment due to their lack of knowledge on the situation. I‘m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they don’t know, but I would encourage reporters to follow up to see if Curry and Kerr actually studied the situation in Hong Kong or if they were just stalling so they didn’t have to experience a PR nightmare. LeBron James criticized Morey calling him “misinformed or not really educated” on the situation. After backlash from those comments, James explained that Morey did not understand the repercussions of his comments since he tweeted his comment while NBA players were in China and their lives may have been in danger. Shortly after Morey’s tweet was sent, James and other NBA players lost endorsement deals from appearances in China. Nike, the official provider of NBA apparel, made over $6 billion in revenue in China alone from mid-2018 and mid-2019. James makes $32 million annually from Nike.
Fans were kicked out of NBA games for wearing shirts or waving signs supporting the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. When a reporter asked James Harden and Russell Westbrook about speaking out on social issues in the future, she was shut down by an NBA representative who said, “We’re taking basketball questions only.” So, it seems that players want to be activists as long as their activism does not hurt their checkbooks. Quick side-note: for everyone that wants to talk about Colin Kaepernick’s sacrifice, just remember that he is getting paid handsomely by Nike as the face of their “Just Do It” 30th anniversary campaign. He sacrificed football, but let’s stop acting like he missed out on millions of dollars because he did not.
Are the NBA players hypocrites for staying silent on social issues when their bank accounts are at stake? Yes. It is very well-documented that China is an authoritarian regime that silences any form of speech that criticizes the national government. The Chinese government has detained over a million Uyghurs in “re-education camps”, according to a United Nations human rights panel. The NBA isn’t the only hypocrite though.
Apple has removed apps from their App Store if they do not comply with certain Chinese censorship policies. Microsoft censors political content on Bing and LinkedIn that challenges the Chinese government. Google had detailed plans to release a censored search engine in China before public backlash helped squash the initiative. Video game company Activision Blizzard punished an Esports gamer for publicly supporting Hong Kong protesters during a competition. Guess what? Tencent Holdings has a 5% stake in Activision. Nevertheless, I'll still watch NBA games, use my Apple products, and play Call of Duty on my Xbox because they are sources of entertainment and provide an escape. Does that make me a hypocrite? Probably, but I do not criticize others from a holier-than-thou perch. I'm fully aware of my complicity.
Why are these companies willing to compromise free speech? Because there is money to be made by tapping into the Chinese market made up of 1.4 billion people. China has committed numerous human rights violations but that doesn’t stop American companies from investing in the fastest growing major economy in the world. It certainly doesn’t stop us from buying the next iPhone which was made in China because labor is cheaper and more readily available over there. So where do we draw the line? One thing is true. If we keep choosing not to stand for certain freedoms, whether domestic or abroad, then what will we fall for?
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