A bipartisan commission has called upon the NBA to stop the sale of forced labor apparel made in China.
Last Friday, the Congressional-Executive Commission on China asked NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to meet with various groups to “learn about the sad reality of genocide.”
“The letter also called on the league to ban any NBA-branded gear made with forced labor from China and prohibit players from wearing shoes on game days that were made by Chinese companies using cotton from Xinjiang, a region where more than a million Uyghur Muslims are now held in barbed-wire camps,” noted ESPN.
“The commission, which includes members of Congress and White House appointees, also sent a letter to National Basketball Players Association (NBPA) president CJ McCollum of the New Orleans Pelicans expressing concerns about the union’s ‘potential complicity’ in China’s use of forced labor,” it added.
Chris Smith (R-N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), the commission chair and co-chair, said that “NBA players should not be subsidizing genocide by endorsing or wearing shoes and gear from Chinese sportwear companies complicit in forced labor.”
Protesters demonstrate in front of the Chinese Embassy in support of the repressed Uyghur Muslim community who live in Xinjiang in northwest China on the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 01, 2021, in London, England. (Wiktor Szymanowicz/Future Publishing via Getty Images)
The NBA continued its ongoing relationship with China in 2022 when it returned to the authoritarian regime’s state-run television after a nearly three-year hiatus.
“On the eve of the current NBA playoffs, the league’s games returned to state-run TV in China after a nearly three-year ban. It was a quiet return, with nary a word from New York or Beijing trumpeting the apparent end of a bitter conflict,” reported ESPN at the time.
Many of the NBA’s owners reportedly remained quiet as the league’s heads worked to repair relations with China that reportedly cost “cost hundreds of millions of dollars” in business since the ban was implemented in 2019 when Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey tweeted in favor of the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
“The owners had reason to stay quiet: In addition to the money their teams derive from the NBA’s $5 billion business in China, many have significant personal stakes there through their other businesses,” the report added.
The 40 principal owners reportedly have invested a collective $10 billion in China, putting them in a profoundly vulnerable position if business relations went south.
Robert Kuhn, a longtime adviser to Chinese political leaders and multinational corporations operating in China, said the NBA would likely be at odds with its social justice messaging while appeasing China’s leaders for years to come.
“This is a significant issue and problem that American companies have,” said Kuhn. “It’s a tension between those two poles … to see companies promoting social justice in the U.S. but staying silent on what would be perceived to be far worse issues in China. This is going to be an issue for the rest of our working lives.”
NBA commissioner Adam Silver speaks during the first round of the 2023 NBA Draft at Barclays Center on June 22, 2023, in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Likewise, attorney Dan Harris, who represents companies doing business in China, said: “Nobody really wants their name associated with China, but what can they do? They’re sort of betwixt and between. If they say what Americans want them to say, it’s death in China. If they say what China wants, it’s death in America.”
The NBA infamously apologized to China after Daryl Morey’s famed tweet in 2019. Since then, the league has reportedly gone through great steps to censor players critical of the regime. During his time at the Boston Celtics, Enes Kanter Freedom alleged that NBA leaders “begged” him to remove his “Free Tibet” sneakers from the court.
“Before the game at Madison Square Garden, two gentlemen from the NBA begged me to take the shoes off,” Freedom told the New York Post in 2021.
Representatives from the NBA denied to the Post that Freedom was ever censored for his sneakers.
Freedom said he refused to take the shoes off and did not care if he got banned or fined. Once halftime approached, he learned that China had banned all Celtics games from streaming in the country.
Paul Roland Bois joined Breitbart News in 2021. He also directed the award-winning feature film, EXEMPLUM, which can be viewed for FREE on YouTube or Tubi. A high-quality, ad-free stream can also be purchased on Google Play or Vimeo on Demand. Follow him on Twitter @prolandfilms or Instagram @prolandfilms.