King James has bowed to his Chinese corporate overlords.
Shocking, I know. The guy who tried to trademark “Taco Tuesday” has put his bank account ahead of people in concentration camps.
LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers was asked this week about the recent debacle involving the NBA siding with communist China against Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who said in a since-deleted tweet, “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
This is what James, who is arguably the most famous, currently active NBA player, had to say Monday after he was asked whether the Houston Rockets’ general manager should be disciplined for supporting pro-democracy demonstrators:
So many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and we say and what we do even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech. But there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too.
The last time James choked this hard, he was playing for Miami.
LeBron James speaks for the first time since the NBA’s trip to China, says Rockets GM Daryl Morey was “misinformed” about the ramifications of his tweet, and “not educated about the situation.” Here are LeBron’s comments in full: pic.twitter.com/Rwjnchm2w3
— Rachel Nichols (@Rachel__Nichols) October 15, 2019
James had days to work on his response. The NBA-China debacle began last Sunday with Morey’s short-lived pro-Hong Kong tweet and this was the best statement James could come up with in all that time?
Amazingly, it gets worse. If you think James’ initial response is bad, just wait until you read his attempts to clean up his mess.
“Let me clear up the confusion. I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet. I’m not discussing the substance. Others can talk About that,” the NBA star said late Monday on Twitter.
He added, “My team and this league just went through a difficult week. I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. Could have waited a week to send it.”
I do not know what else to say except that it saddens me — truly! — to watch American superstars capitulate like this to a brutal, murderous communist regime, which has imprisoned an estimated 3 million individuals in concentration camps. All this subservience for a little bit more money. It is astonishing, really, just how quickly the players and coaches have torn down the NBA’s carefully crafted reputation as being the most progressive and outspoken of all the leagues in the United States.
It is especially painful to watch James kowtow to China considering he is a generally informed and political person. Unlike the Houston Rockets’ James Harden, who got right down on his hands and knees and shined Chinese “dictator for life” Xi Jinping’s boots with his tongue, James cannot hide behind the defense that he is a mostly apolitical person and therefore not likely to be that plugged into the issues.
James is an exceptionally political celebrity. He campaigned for two-time failed presidential candidate Hillary Clinton in 2016. He declared in July 2018 that he would continue to use his platform to speak out on social issues. He told comedian Jon Stewart that he would fight for equality and justice even it comes at a great personal and financial cost, drawing a glowing comparison to Muhammad Ali. James is also the sort of person who tweets inspirational, pro-civil rights statements, including when he quoted Martin Luther King Jr. on Jan. 15, 2018, in a tweet that read, “Injustice Anywhere Is A Threat To Justice Everywhere- Our Lives Begin To End The Day We Become Silent About Things That Matter.”
Sorry, but James never really meant any of those things. He is courageous, so long as it does not matter in real life or threaten his pocketbook. Which is to say, he is not courageous at all.
And this is why Michael Jordan will always be the greatest of all time.
