The NBA used to be popular, back when it wasn’t woke. Then, stars like Lebron James turned it into a walking advertisement for Marxist groups like Black Lives Matter.
It’s part of a trend in professional sports becoming political and leftist; this is something we’ve also seen, for example, in the NFL with the anti-American protests of Colin Kaepernick.
Another thing about the NBA and its social justice warrior players is players like James refused to ever stand up against real injustice. They bowed down to China so the NBA could keep broadcasting in the huge Chinese market and selling merchandise.
Yet, one NBA player had enough and is taking a stand.
Meet Enes Kanter
Enes Kanter plays center for the Boston Celtics. He made big waves earlier this week when he put up a video on Twitter saying Tibet is free and China has no right to occupy it. He also accurately called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “dictator.”
That is correct. China is an evil communist regime led by a dictator with no respect for human rights or basic diplomacy. The Chinese were outraged when Kanter put up the Tibet tweet.
Major streaming partners refused to show his game and Chinese social media censored him. Meanwhile, Chinese reporters and many fans said Kanter is an offensive idiot who was ruining the “harmony” of China.
Most players at this point would back down. Kanter did the exact opposite. He went back on Twitter and put up another tweet, demanding China stop its enslavement and genocide of its minority Uyghur population.
Quite the contrast. pic.twitter.com/AmMSogZlS3
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) October 22, 2021
Kanter Doubles Down
Despite China’s foreign affairs department saying Kanter is too stupid to even “refute,” he doubled down by putting out another video. In this video, Kanter demands China stop its genocide of the Uyghur people, including “torture, rape, forced abortions, and sterilizations.”
As he noted, more than 1.8 million Uyghurs are currently being actively persecuted by China. As Kanter said, fellow NBA players need to “speak up” and stop giving China a free pass to act like Nazi Germany.
Heartless Dictator of China,
XI JINPING and the Communist Party of China.I am calling you out in front of the whole world.
Close down the SLAVE labor camps and free the UYGHUR people!Stop the GENOCIDE, now!#FreeUyghurs pic.twitter.com/eEoiw5Uz2K
— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) October 22, 2021
The Bottom Line
Basketball and the NBA are really popular in China. This action by Kanter of doubling down and calling them out on the Uyghurs is going to absolutely infuriate China. There is no doubt they are having closed door meetings in high level government departments at this exact moment.
Doing nothing will make China look weak; overreacting will also cause this to become an even bigger controversy than it already is. That could lead to a diplomatic incident between the US and China.
At the end of the day, more players need to be like Kanter and stop pulling their punches. Standing up for real justice isn’t about kneeling during the National Anthem; it’s about speaking out against evil power even when it can hurt your career.
