As the National Basketball Association (NBA) seeks to appease the Communist Party of China (CPC) by apologizing for any criticism that may be directed its way by one of its members, Americans should keep in mind that the league has a highly selective history regarding the causes for which it chooses to take a public stand.
As highlighted by LifeSiteNews, the NBA effectively boycotted the state of North Carolina back in 2016 by pulling the league’s annual All-Star Game out of Charlotte due to the state’s law barring transgender individuals from entering a bathroom not corresponding to their biological sex. At the time, NBA commissioner Adam Silver gave the state a deadline to repeal the “discriminatory” law or else face having the game pulled. “I don’t see how we would get past this summer without knowing definitively where we stand,” he said.
Come July of that year, the NBA officially announced that the All-Star Game at issue would not take place in Charlotte, North Carolina — the league opted for New Orleans, instead.
“While we recognize that the NBA cannot choose the law in every city, state, and country in which we do business, we do not believe we can successfully host our All-Star festivities in Charlotte in the climate created by [the transgender law],” the league stated at the time.
“We are particularly mindful of the impact of this decision on our fans in North Carolina, who are among the most passionate in our league. It is also important to stress that the City of Charlotte and the Hornets organization have sought to provide an inclusive environment and that the Hornets will continue to ensure that all patrons — including members of the LGBT community — feel welcome while attending games and events in their arena.”
In response to the NBA’s glaring hypocrisy by shaming North Carolina while seeming to overlook monstrous human rights abuses by the CPC in order to make a buck, Republicans have called out the league.
“I see hypocrisy,” former Republican North Carolina Governor Pat McCrory told the Charlotte Observer. “They wanted to involve themselves with North Carolina commerce and an election, while not setting the same standard for China. I called them out then, and it’s still true now.”
“They were losing some sponsorships (if All-Star Weekend was held in North Carolina then); they told me that flat-out on the phone,” McCrory continued. “They got heavily involved with our community and elections, while ignoring China. I told the commissioner they’ve got a lot of business in China. But they’ve got a lot of sponsors there, and that would cost them hundreds of millions.”
The NBA is also not the only entity appeasing the CPC during this controversial firestorm. As reported by Reuters on Thursday, Nike has since been removing Houston Rockets merchandise from its China stores in response to the team’s general manager expressing support for Hong Kong protesters.
“Houston Rockets sneakers and other merchandise were pulled from several Nike stores in major Chinese cities amid the furor surrounding a tweet from the team’s general manager in support of anti-government protests in Hong Kong,” reported Reuters. “Managers at five Nike stores in Beijing and Shanghai told Reuters during visits on Thursday they had been told in recent days via a memo from management that all Rockets merchandise had to be removed. Reuters was unable to view the memo.”