NBA Commissioner Adam Silver revealed that China requested he fire Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey after he sparked an international controversy when he publicly supported the protests in Hong Kong.
Earlier this month, Morey posted an image that said, “Fight for Freedom. Stand for Hong Kong,” amid increasing tension between Hong Kong and Beijing, which controls the territory. Fallout followed swiftly, with the NBA first distancing themselves from Morey while China broke off deals with the league.
The Chinese government requested Silver fire Morey, he said on Thursday.
“We said there’s no chance that’s happening,” Silver stated. “There’s no chance we’ll even discipline him.”
After Morey’s tweet and subsequent apology and the league’s willingness to defend China, both Democratic and Republican members of Congress backed the Rockets executive. In one instance, Republican Nebraska Sen. Ben Sasse took aim at the NBA and American businesses for surrendering to “Chinese techno-authoritarianism.”
“Sadly, it seems woke capitalism stops at the water’s edge. And this goes way beyond basketball; it is part of Beijing’s strategy of corporate encirclement straight out of Sun Tzu,” he wrote in an op-ed.
Multiple NBA fans were also thrown out of a NBA preseason games in the United States after they brought signs supporting the Hong Kong freedom protests.
[Opinion: The NBA is showing its true colors by bowing to China]
