Lebron James has just tweeted, talking about police brutality in America regarding the late George Floyd. Back in 2018, Lebron also tweeted “-Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere- Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter- #ThankYouMLK50,” James wrote at the time.
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In light of these remarks in support of disenfranchised people, it therefore came as a surprise that LeBron refused to castigate China for her acts of brutality against Hong Kong protesters. Can someone say H-Y-P-O-C-R-I-S-Y? What happened to “injustice anywhere is injustice everywhere” when he decided to turn his back on the poor people of Hong Kong? Saying that Mr. Daryl Morey was uneducated for supporting students who’ve been tear gassed, shot at and beaten up by the CCP. Yaani even the NBA now bows down to China? Tsk tsk tsk!
LeBron James fanned the NBA’s China controversy on Monday, saying Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey “wasn’t educated” when he tweeted his support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
“I don’t want to get into a … feud with Daryl Morey,” James told reporters, “but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke.
[SIZE=5]“So many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually, so, just be careful what we tweet, what we say, what we do. Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, there can be a lot of negative that comes from that.”[/SIZE]
This was James’ first public response to Morey setting off an international crisis earlier this month when he wrote on Twitter, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
James’ Lakers and the Nets were in China, the league’s biggest market outside the U.S., this past week for the NBA preseason.
Multiple news conferences and other events were scrapped by the Chinese government in the lead-up to the games.
“I’m not here to judge how the league handled the situation,” James said. “I think that, when you’re misinformed or not educated about something, and I’m just talking about the tweet itself, you never know the ramifications that can happen and we all see what that did. Not only did for our league, for all of us in America, for people in China as well. Sometimes you have to think through things that you say that may cause harm to not only for yourself, but for the majority of people. I think that’s just a prime example of that.”
While in China, James implored the league and commissioner Adam Silver to speak out on the issue before the players, who feared being reprimanded, The Athletic reported on Monday.
https://nypost.com/2019/10/09/watching-first-hand-as-china-tears-away-from-nba/
The league previously released a statement supporting Morey’s free speech while also empathizing with those in China; however, a statement issued by the league in Chinese said[SIZE=5] the league was “extremely disappointed” by Morey’s “inappropriate” tweet, according to multiple reports.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=5]Morey has since apologized for his tweet,[/SIZE] and the NBA has no plans to punish him despite some calling for him to lose his job.
China has already dropped all Rockets television streaming, sponsorships and partnerships with the Houston franchise, which it had adopted as its own after Chinese native Yao Ming starred there during his eight-year career.
The U.S. is also currently in the midst of a trade negotiation with China.