The National Basketball Association (NBA) came under fire yesterday for its response to a tweet by a Houston Rockets official in support of Hong Kong protests for democracy, the latest overseas business to run afoul of political issues in China.
Rockets general manager Daryl Morey yesterday apologized for the tweet he had swiftly deleted, but his support for the protests angered Beijing, Chinese fans and the team’s partners in a key NBA market.
“I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China,” Morey tweeted yesterday.
Photo: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY
“I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event,” he said, adding that he had since heard and considered other perspectives.
The Rockets are widely followed in China, partly because in 2002 they drafted Yao Ming (姚明), who became a star.
Morey’s initial tweet included an image captioned: “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.”
It prompted sportswear brand Li-Ning and sponsor Shanghai Pudong Development Bank Credit Card Center to suspend work with the Rockets, while the team’s games were dropped by China Central Television.
The post was later deleted and 47-year-old Morey, the NBA’s executive of the year last year, said his views did not represent the team or league.
A separate statement from NBA chief communications officer Mike Bass said “we recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.”
However, the Chinese-language version issued by the NBA on Sina Weibo appeared to go further than the English statement, saying: “We are extremely disappointed in the inappropriate remarks made by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey,” which “severely hurt the feelings of Chinese fans.”
US lawmakers said the NBA’s response was shameful and showed how China was using its economic power to censor speech by Americans in the US.
“As a lifelong @HoustonRockets fan, I was proud to see @dmorey call out the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive treatment of protestors in Hong Kong,” Senator Ted Cruz, a Republican, said on Twitter. “Now, in pursuit of $$, the @NBA is shamefully retreating.”
Other legislators accused the NBA of a double standard when it comes to China.
NBA stars and some coaches have been outspoken in their criticism of US President Donald Trump, and NBA commissioner Adam Silver has urged players to speak out on issues of concern, including questions of police brutality and gun violence.
The furor is the latest example of an overseas brand caught in controversy over the Hong Kong protests. Many Western brands have been forced to clarify positions on Chinese sovereignty as the Hong Kong protests fuel nationalist fervor.
Taipei-born Joe Tsai (蔡崇信), owner of the Brooklyn Nets and cofounder of Alibaba Group Holding, said freedom of expression does not extend to issues China deems untouchable, and the damage from Morey’s tweet “will take a long time to repair.”
While acknowledging the tradition of free speech in the US, Tsai wrote on Facebook: “The problem is, there are certain topics that are third-rail issues in certain countries, societies and communities.”
“Supporting a separatist movement in a Chinese territory is one of those third-rail issues, not only for the Chinese government, but also for all citizens in China,” he wrote.
Global Times editor-in-chief Hu Xijin (胡錫進) yesterday tweeted that Morey “has the right to express his values, and Chinese fans of the Houston Rockets have the right to abandon this team. If the Rockets want to keep its Chinese market, the team need to avoid offending Chinese public.”
Additional reporting by AP and AFP
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was