Daryl Morey, the general manager of the Houston Rockets, took to Twitter last week in support of the people of Hong Kong. While his single tweet on the matter wasn’t necessarily controversial (he said “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”), it was enough to prompt an immediate apology from the NBA and retaliation from China. The owner of the Houston Rockets – which, by the way, is the most popular team in China thanks to the fact that native legend Yao Ming played his career there – quickly issued a tweet disavowing Morey’s comments:
— Tilman Fertitta (@TilmanJFertitta) October 5, 2019 The NBA’s statement reaffirmed that Morey was speaking for himself, not the company:
— Tim MacMahon (@espn_macmahon) October 7, 2019 This statement went over like a fart in church as the NBA found itself in the bipartisan cross-hairs of US political disgust, with pundits and politicians on both sides of the Trump divide weighing in to heap shame on the NBA.
— Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 7, 2019
— Beto O’Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 7, 2019 Morey, of course, issued a fast apology, claiming he’d been educated on the many sides of the issue in the time since he first tweeted about Hong Kong:
— Daryl Morey (@dmorey) October 7, 2019 But bells can’t be unrung and tweets can’t be untweeted (untwung?). The damage was already done. Adding insult to injury, the creators of Southpark waded into the fray after their show was banned (again) in China following the recent airing of an episode critical of the country’s censorship policies. They threw shade at the NBA by way of a mock apology tweet:
— South Park (@SouthPark) October 7, 2019 China doesn’t seem to care what US politicians and entertainers think when it comes to the communist state’s views on censorship. The PRC is threatening to tank its relationship with the NBA if the league doesn’t straighten up, fly right, and get its executives and players in order. State-run media outlets won’t run NBA preseason exhibition games as planned and technology giant Tencent has suspended NBA programming – a contract reportedly worth $1.5 billion — as it reviews its future plans with the league. While both state and corporate entities in China still claim they’ll air regular season games as planned, the suspensions are obviously meant to have a chilling effect on the NBA’s willingness to keep being the “wokest league in sports.” It’s one thing when the mainstream media in the US praises the league for its anti-censorship efforts (something it stood to profit from), but when China’s chips are on the table – and billions are at stake – the NBA appears to be showing its true color: green.
