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.”
Cheer mom, daughter dead in apparent murder-suicide after years-long custody fight: docs
Five injured, including firefighter, in church explosion following reported gas leak in upstate New York
NBC News Buries Background of Latest Trans Mass Shooting Suspect – He ‘Also Went by the First Name Roberta’
Obama dragged for ‘headache’-inducing presidential center update that has visitors squinting
Minnesota Democrats demand reparations from ICE after losing $18 billion to Somali fraud
Dems Try to Cancel Republican Congressman After He Declares Americans Will Not Give Up Dogs to Appease NYC’s Muslims
Hamas dismisses Israel threat to ‘complete the mission’ if terrorist group doesn’t disarm
Mainstream liberals join Soros in bankrolling group backing DC jury nullification effort
Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
Alert: Hillary Just Signaled a Massive Narrative Change on Immigration – Remember How They Tried to Steal ‘No Tax on Tips’ From Trump? They’re About to Try the Same Move Again
BREAKING: Trans Bombshell in Hockey Shooting – Murderer Robert Dorgan Went by ‘Roberta,’ – This as Reports Killer Wore Women’s Clothing Already Circulating
Georgia father on trial, accused of giving son rifle before school shooting
Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect’s gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs
House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
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.
Cheer mom, daughter dead in apparent murder-suicide after years-long custody fight: docs
Five injured, including firefighter, in church explosion following reported gas leak in upstate New York
NBC News Buries Background of Latest Trans Mass Shooting Suspect – He ‘Also Went by the First Name Roberta’
Obama dragged for ‘headache’-inducing presidential center update that has visitors squinting
Minnesota Democrats demand reparations from ICE after losing $18 billion to Somali fraud
Dems Try to Cancel Republican Congressman After He Declares Americans Will Not Give Up Dogs to Appease NYC’s Muslims
Hamas dismisses Israel threat to ‘complete the mission’ if terrorist group doesn’t disarm
Mainstream liberals join Soros in bankrolling group backing DC jury nullification effort
Trump hammers AOC Munich stumbles as ‘not a good look for the United States’
Election integrity groups press Supreme Court to require ballots by Election Day
Alert: Hillary Just Signaled a Massive Narrative Change on Immigration – Remember How They Tried to Steal ‘No Tax on Tips’ From Trump? They’re About to Try the Same Move Again
BREAKING: Trans Bombshell in Hockey Shooting – Murderer Robert Dorgan Went by ‘Roberta,’ – This as Reports Killer Wore Women’s Clothing Already Circulating
Georgia father on trial, accused of giving son rifle before school shooting
Rhode Island ice rink shooting suspect’s gender identity was source of past family conflict: docs
House Dem’s graphic chicken decapitation ‘horrified’ her college roommates: ‘Blood went everywhere’
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.
