Liberals have been urging professional athletes to speak out more on political issues.
And that push appears to be backfiring.
Now an NBA star shockingly called out one owner’s connections to communist China.
Brooklyn Nets star point guard Kyrie Irving remains suspended after posting a link to a documentary on his social media page.
The anti-Semitic documentary Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America, which essentially amplifies the lies about Holocaust denial from a fringe religious group called the Black Hebrew Israelites, and Irving got hit with the same accusation for posting the movie on social media without comment.
Nets owner Joe Tsai suspended Irving indefinitely and said he must meet certain conditions before returning to the team.
According to NBA beat writer Shams Charania, Irving must:
“—Apologize and condemn the film he promoted
—Make a $500,000 donation to anti-hate causes
—Complete sensitivity training
—Complete anti-Semitism training
—Meet with the ADL and Jewish leaders
—Meet with team owner Joe Tsai to demonstrate an understanding of the situation.”
The indefinite suspension and re-education conditions did not sit well with Boston Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown, who is also the vice president of the players’ union.
Brown called out Tsai and made an oblique reference to Tsai’s connections to the Chinese Communist Party.
Brown said, “[Tsai’s] response was alarming to me…He didn’t say that the organization was working together to get Kyrie back on the floor. He said that [Kyrie] had more work to do…And our society has more work to do, including Joe Tsai. It’s 2022. It takes ten minutes of time to see who these business owners, corporations et cetera, who they’re associated with and who they’re doing business with, who they’re affiliated with.”
Jaylen Brown talks about Brooklyn Nets Joe Tsai & Kyrie Irving #Netsworld Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/xzfe0uV0HH
— NetsKingdom 👑🗽 (@NetsKingdomAJ) November 15, 2022
When former Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey got in hot water for offering benign support for pro-freedom protesters in Hong Kong against communist China, Tsai was allegedly working behind the scenes to get Morey fired.
From ESPN:
“Within two months of taking control of the Nets, Tsai inserted himself into the controversy. Morey’s supporters believed Tsai was pushing the NBA to fire Morey and offer a full-throated apology, part of a behind-the-scenes drama that reached the White House and has not been previously disclosed. Tsai also published an open letter that accused Morey, inaccurately, of ‘supporting a separatist movement.’ Both the Nets and the NBA denied that Tsai tried to get Morey fired or that he pushed the NBA to apologize.”
Others have noticed Tsai’s hardline stance in defense of the CCP.
Former Trump Deputy National Security Adviser Matt Pottinger summed it up best when he said, “Joe Tsai is emblematic of U.S. sports and business figures who are critical of American imperfections, as we all should be, but who make excuses for human rights atrocities committed in China, where he makes money…We’re going to self-censor or even compliment the policies of a totalitarian dictatorship that’s committing crimes against humanity?”
Irving was prepared to sit out all of last season due to his refusal to take the COVID vaccine, so he is unlikely to buckle to Tsai’s demands.
Irving has missed seven games thus far, and more players are beginning to grumble at the efforts to put him through a struggle season.