LeBron James called Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey uneducated and went off at-length about the “negative” side-effects of free speech, in reaction to Morey’s tweet of support to pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong.
On October 4th, Morey tweeted a message of support of Hong Kong’s demonstrators, saying: “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
That message touched off a firestorm of controversy as China canceled minor league exhibition games and canceled numerous business deals with the Rockets, and the NBA. On Monday, Lakers forward LeBron James spoke publicly about the incident for the first time, and didn’t mince words while calling Morey out for a tweet that he says could have caused people to be physically “harmed.”
Trump warns UK it’s ‘very dangerous’ to do business with China after Starmer’s Beijing meeting
Trump administration eases sanctions on Venezuelan oil industry after Maduro’s capture
Video: Anti-ICE Agitators Say Video of Woman Writhing in Pain Shows ICE Blew Part of Her Hand Off, But Look What We Found When We Slowed It Down
CNN’s Navarro Calls Pretti ‘Perfect Guy’ She’d Want Daughter to Date Before Disturbing New Video Surfaces
Dems provide Republicans key votes to advance Trump-backed funding package
Hunter Biden Argues He’s Not Legally Obligated to Communicate with His 7-Year-Old Daughter in New Court Filing
Trump files $10B lawsuit against IRS over alleged tax return leaks to major news outlets
Social justice advocate once named Bostonian of the Year sentenced in fraud case
Man Arrested While Allegedly Attempting to Break Luigi Mangione Out of Prison by Posing as an FBI Agent
Judges weigh Title IX funding fight over Virginia schools’ pro-transgender bathroom policies
Anti-ICE agitators mistake TSA air marshals for ICE agents, heckle them at Los Angeles-area restaurant
‘Zizian’ suspect to represent self at trial as other associates derail murder case
Dem Governor’s Attempt to Frame JD Vance’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Post as Anti-Semitic Backfires
Virginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning
FIRST ON FOX: FEMA unleashes $2.2B in disaster relief funding across 25 states: ‘Cutting red tape’
LeBron says he believes Rockets GM Daryl Morey wasn’t educated when he spoke about Hong Kong and that his tweet could have hurt a lot of people, including financially pic.twitter.com/UMj71DPQH7
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) October 15, 2019
The NBA received tremendous bipartisan criticism for their initial response to Morey’s tweet, when they responded by calling the post “regrettable” for the offense that it caused. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver eventually tried to quell the backlash by championing Morey’s free speech rights.
Trump warns UK it’s ‘very dangerous’ to do business with China after Starmer’s Beijing meeting
Trump administration eases sanctions on Venezuelan oil industry after Maduro’s capture
Video: Anti-ICE Agitators Say Video of Woman Writhing in Pain Shows ICE Blew Part of Her Hand Off, But Look What We Found When We Slowed It Down
CNN’s Navarro Calls Pretti ‘Perfect Guy’ She’d Want Daughter to Date Before Disturbing New Video Surfaces
Dems provide Republicans key votes to advance Trump-backed funding package
Hunter Biden Argues He’s Not Legally Obligated to Communicate with His 7-Year-Old Daughter in New Court Filing
Trump files $10B lawsuit against IRS over alleged tax return leaks to major news outlets
Social justice advocate once named Bostonian of the Year sentenced in fraud case
Man Arrested While Allegedly Attempting to Break Luigi Mangione Out of Prison by Posing as an FBI Agent
Judges weigh Title IX funding fight over Virginia schools’ pro-transgender bathroom policies
Anti-ICE agitators mistake TSA air marshals for ICE agents, heckle them at Los Angeles-area restaurant
‘Zizian’ suspect to represent self at trial as other associates derail murder case
Dem Governor’s Attempt to Frame JD Vance’s Holocaust Remembrance Day Post as Anti-Semitic Backfires
Virginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning
FIRST ON FOX: FEMA unleashes $2.2B in disaster relief funding across 25 states: ‘Cutting red tape’
Now, with the league representatives and players back from their tumultuous trip to China, it seemed like the news cycle of the NBA-China rift had died down. However, with James denouncing free speech in even stronger terms than the NBA did while calling a pro-democracy tweet “uneducated,” it’s difficult to see the crisis going away.
It’s also difficult to see why James would so willingly and unnecessarily reignite the controversy.
Then again, perhaps it makes sense after all. James is still the best and most popular player in the league. Moreover, for nearly ten years he’s championed numerous social justice causes and launched numerous attacks against President Trump, all to the delight of the sports media.
Maybe he’s become so used to being applauded for speaking his mind, that he no longer recognizes when he shouldn’t?
Story cited here.
