Ted Cruz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Demand NBA to Suspend China Activities Over Boycott

Washington (AFP) – A bipartisan set of US lawmakers urged the NBA on Wednesday to suspend all activities in China until Chinese firms and broadcasters end their boycott of the league and the Houston Rockets.

The open letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver came from eight US lawmakers as politically diverse as Ted Cruz of Texas and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, both from states with multiple NBA teams.

“You have more power to take a stand than most of the Chinese government’s targets and should have the courage and integrity to use it,” the letter said.

“It’s not unreasonable to expect American companies to put our fundamental democratic rights ahead of profit.”

The letter comes in the wake of a since-deleted tweet from Rockets general manager Daryl Morey supporting Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.

That prompted the Chinese government to end sponsorships for the team and league and drop planned NBA telecasts in China, huge NBA logos and banner being stripped off buildings a sign of the anger.

Watch: ‘The View’ Hit Its Lowest Low Ever as Joy Behar Attacks ‘Narcissistic’ Jesus in Blasphemous On-Air Rant

Trump taps former deputy surgeon general to helm CDC

Ketanji Brown Jackson Publicly Attacks Her Supreme Court Colleagues for ‘Utterly Irrational’ Decisions

Scamming the West: What’s really behind the UN’s ahistorical transatlantic slavery resolution

Israel and Lebanon take a critical step forward on the road to peace

The un-shock effects of ‘Undertone’

Greenland talks on ‘good trajectory,’ White House says amid Trump takeover push

House punts Trump spy powers extension after conservatives block deal, forcing end-of-month showdown

Trump admin announces expansion of visa restriction policy in Western Hemisphere

Singer D4vd arrested and held without bail in case tied to teen found dead in Tesla: Police

EXCLUSIVE: NYC officials refuse ICE hold for illegal alien accused in arson that killed 4 and injured 7: DHS

Ex-teacher faces 25 charges, including rape and abuse as investigation widens

Jerome Powell Now Considering Move to Spite Trump: Report

Missing pregnant woman found dead after mysterious Texas disappearance

Franklin Graham defends Trump in letter shared on Truth Social after AI ‘Jesus’ image backlash

After early NBA statements were seen as overly capitulating, Silver said, “I understand there are consequences from … his freedom of speech. We will have to live with those consequences. As a league, we’re not willing to compromise those values.”

The full cost might not be known for months, with the NBA having made lucrative deals to a nation of 1.4 billion that loves basketball. But the lawmakers demanded values win over profits.

“Equivocating when profits are at stake is a betrayal of fundamental American values,” the lawmakers wrote. “That you have more potential fans in China than in Hong Kong is no excuse for bending over backwards to express ‘sensitivity’ only to one side.”

Lawmakers urged Silver to take four steps to harden the NBA’s stance against China’s retaliatory moves, most notably shutting down NBA activities in China, where two pre-season exhibition games were slated to be played.

“The NBA should have anticipated the challenges of doing business in a country run by a repressive single party government, including by being prepared to stand in strong defense of the freedom of expression of its employees, players, and affiliates across the globe,” the lawmakers wrote.

They also pushed for an end to punishments to the Rockets, saying the NBA must be united against “future efforts by Chinese government-controlled entities to single out individual teams, players, or associates for boycotts or selective treatment.”