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.

Five Severed Human Heads Discovered Hanging on Beach in Apparent Drug Cartel Warning

Radical Groups Like Renee Good’s Are Tailing ICE All Over America

Trump accuses Tim Walz and Ilhan Omar of using ICE protests to distract from massive state fraud

Surgeon ex in Ohio dentist murders job hopped across country, dodged lawsuits after divorce

Cori Bush ripped for ‘jaw-dropping’ hypocrisy on key issue amid comeback House bid

The Redistricting Scheme That Could Help Dems Retake the House

Lawyers Claim Man’s Life ‘Stolen’ By ICE: Turns Out He Shot at an Officer

Professors were disciplined for vulgar posts after Charlie Kirk’s assassination: where are they now?

Russia tries to revive its relevance with support for Iran after failure to fight US moves in Venezuela

Trump vows to ‘take out’ Indiana GOP leader over redistricting fight

Homan Confirms ICE Agent Who Shot Renee Good Is ‘in Hiding’ Amid Rabid Leftist Death Threats

Progressive-backed Analilia Mejia faces uphill battle in bid to replace Mikie Sherrill

Border Patrol commander vows continued tear gas use after Minnesota fedreal judge’s order

Man allegedly assaulted with flagpole by Minneapolis anti-ICE agitators in violent parking garage attack

Tim Walz Gets the Response He Deserves After Suddenly Saying He Wants to ‘Turn the Temperature Down’

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.”