LeBron James' China Comments

Overview

LeBron James' China Comments refers to basketball star LeBron James' take on the ongoing Hong Kong Protests. Specifically, James said that Houston Rockets' GM Daryl Morey's tweet in support of the protests, which led to China imposing heavy sanctions on the Rockets and the league and jeopardized the league's relationship with the country, was "uneducated," and that he had no comment regarding the protests themselves. This led to commenters mocking James for taking a non-stance on the issue, perhaps due to financial motivations.

Background

On October 4th, 2019, Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted and quickly deleted a post supporting Hong Kong.^[1] This led to heavy criticism and financial sanctions from the Chinese government and Chinese financial sponsors on the Rockets and the NBA. On October 14th, 2019, LeBron James spoke to the media for the first time since the tweet sparked the firestorm, and stated Morey's comments were "uneducated."^[2]

"I don't want to get into a [verbal] feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. And so many people could have been harmed not only financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and say and we do, even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too."

James later tweeted, "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."^[3] He added in a second tweet, "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."^[4]

Developments

James came under heavy criticism for the comments. Both the New York Post^[5] and USA Today^[6] slammed James for his comments. Writing in the post, Mike Vaccaro wrote, "He can spew this nonsense – let’s specify it as “misinformed” nonsense – all he wants precisely because a fundamental tenet of American life is to allow a forum for all opinions. Even if he knew – had to know – what life in China is really like within his first hours in the country." USA Today's Dan Wolken sarcastically quipped, "Right on, LeBron. Millions in Hong Kong are fearful that their entire way of life is about to change, and thousands upon thousands of protesters are risking their lives to make a stand for their freedom and their future. Why would Morey think about them when your preseason vacation and your bank account is at stake? How selfish of him."

He was similarly criticized on Twitter. On October 14th, Twitter user @AG_Conservative wrote, "You think you guys had a difficult week? Try talking to some of the protestors in Hong Kong facing violence just for seeking freedom. Or the millions of religious minorities who spent this week in camps in China. You never considered them when you made your statement…" gaining over 1,100 retweets and 10,000 likes (shown below, left). User @Jaranda77 tweeted an image macro mocking James' hypocrisy in the situation, as he has supported political causes in the past, including when the Warriors refused to visit the White House^[6] (shown below, right).

On Reddit, posters in /r/HongKong posted memes mocking LeBron. For example, /r/HongKong user notmyrealname124 posted a photoshop showing James on Chinese money (shown below, left). User Doyle337 posted art showing James in a Chinese uniform (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References