NBA star LeBron James shocked Americans last night with a statement attacking Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey over his tweet supporting the Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters.
Morey tweeted, “Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong.”
Reminder that this was the extent of Daryl Morey's tweet pic.twitter.com/hmSw3M1TaL
— Peter J. Hasson (@peterjhasson) October 15, 2019
We reported on his statement earlier today.
“We talk about freedom of speech, yes, we all do have freedom of speech, but, at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others, you’re only thinking about yourself,” James said.
“So I don’t believe, I don’t want to get into a word, or sentence, feud with Daryl, with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke. So many people could have been harmed, not only financial, but physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet, what we say, and what we do,” he declared.
“Even though yes, we do have freedom of speech, there can be a lot of negatives,” James declared.
He criticized Morey for allegedly being “uneducated” on the subject, after saying he, James, wasn’t sufficiently educated enough on the “political side” to make a comment on the substance of the question.
“When you’re misinformed or you’re not educated about something – and I’m just talking about the tweet itself – you never know the ramifications that can happen. We all see what that did, not only did for our league but for all of us in America, for people in China as well. Sometimes you have to think through the things that you say that may cause harm not only for yourself but for the majority of people. I think that’s just a prime example of that.”
That was offensive and bad enough, a rejection of American values and a complete kowtow to the Chinese.
But then he followed it up with two further tweets that were seemingly tone-deaf to both the oppression of the Chinese government and the feelings of Americans on the subject.
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.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 15, 2019
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.
— LeBron James (@KingJames) October 15, 2019
But now there is a report that it’s even worse than that, that James himself may have pressured NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to punish Morey for his simple statement, according to ESPN’s Dave McMenamin at 3:30 of this video.
https://youtu.be/eYowe9imrbI
According to the Daily Caller:
“Nearly a week ago today, in a Shanghai hotel room, or Shanghai hotel ballroom, Adam Silver got up and addressed the players, and LeBron James is one of the players who got up and spoke and said, ‘Hey, what are we doing here? Daryl Morey made these statements,’” McMenamin recalled on air Tuesday. “You know damn well if a player made the same statements and caused such poor ramifications for the league, there would be some sort of league recourse.”
“There would be repercussions the player has to pay. You know, potentially this tweet could cost the NBA hundreds of millions of dollars. That could come out of the players’ pockets, and so that’s the double standard that was being addressed in that meeting,” he continued.
So he not only was he toting water for the Chinese and attacking Morey for his statement, James was pushing Silver that Morey should be fined for his tweet as well.
Hope his new Communist masters are pleased with him, because he seems to be following their example well, silence anyone who dares speak up and make sure they are punished. And this from a guy who has not held back in his criticisms of the United States and the president. But apparently Chinese money is more important than human rights.
If he or the NBA thinks this is the way to make this go away, they’re sadly mistaken.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member