"My message to the Chinese government is 'free Tibet,'" Kanter stated. "Under the Chinese government's brutal rule, Tibetan people's basic rights and freedoms are non-existent."
Kanter, who was raised in Turkey, has been vocal earlier than in protection of assorted political causes, together with criticisms of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He confronted loss of life threats and the legal trial of his father again house consequently.
His newest feedback prompted an virtually speedy backlash in China, with followers denouncing Kanter and the Celtics on Chinese social media. The Celtics' official web page on Weibo, China's Twitter-like platform, was flooded with calls for for the staff to punish Kanter or provide a public apology.
One widespread Celtics fan web page on Weibo stated it will not be posting updates from the staff due to a player's social media oversights. "For any behavior that undermines harmony of the nations and the dignity of the motherland, we resolutely resist!" the fan web page posted.
Meanwhile, the Chinese broadcast of the Celtics-Knicks sport was pulled by video-streaming web site Tencent. The web site for Tencent Sports indicated that it will not livestream upcoming Celtics video games.
At a information convention Thursday, a spokesperson for China's Foreign Ministry stated Kanter was "trying to get attention" and his remarks "were not worth refuting."
"We will never accept those attacks to discredit Tibet's development and progress," the spokesperson stated.
The NBA has not but publicly commented on the matter. CNN has reached out to the NBA and Tencent.
The backlash highlights the league's wrestle to stroll the nice line between permitting social justice activism for its gamers and appeasing its large — and profitable — Chinese market.
The league has spent years and lots of thousands and thousands of {dollars} investing in China, serving to to construct courts, giving broadcasting rights away totally free and bringing its stars over for preseason video games.
That massive funding and return means the league can also be reluctant to anger its followers and companions in China — which was maybe by no means more clear than in 2019.
That yr, then-Houston Rockets normal supervisor Daryl Morey set off a firestorm when he tweeted his assist for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong. Soon after, the NBA's Chinese companions suspended ties, state broadcaster CCTV halted all broadcasts of preseason matches, and the Chinese authorities stated the NBA wanted to indicate "mutual respect."
Morey apologized and deleted the tweet, and the NBA stated his feedback had been "regrettable" — prompting outrage from followers within the United States and Hong Kong, who accused the league of censorship and bowing to Beijing's strain.
The rift Morey uncovered — and now, the controversy over Kanter's feedback — spotlight the danger of criticizing China, the place surging nationalism and patriotic propaganda imply international detractors may be met with a wave of online vitriol and requires boycotts.
And although Western corporations have lengthy made compromises to function in China, the deteriorating US-China relationship — and rising nationalism inside the financial powerhouse — go away an more and more slim path to stroll.
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