Hong Kong demonstrators burn LeBron James jersey after his free speech comments
Perhaps LeBron James needs to be better educated, too.
A day after the NBA star spoke about the NBA’s current contentious relationship with China in the wake of Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey’s supportive tweet of Hong Kong, protesters burned his jersey and smashed posters of James during a demonstration.
James tried to backtrack after he said he believe Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke.”
James posted a message on Twitter in attempt to “clear of the confusion.”
“I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the [Morey’s] tweet,” he posted Monday night. “I’m not discussing the substance. Others can talk About that.”
In his original comments, James said “We all have freedom of speech, but at times there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others. So many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually … so just be careful with what we tweet, what we say.”
But what if Morey was thinking about the people of Hong Kong, who want to stay a free, autonomous state outside the control of communist China?
Morey deleted his tweet immediately and apologized and the NBA has been embroiled in a public relations nightmare with China ever since.
This story was originally published October 15, 2019 at 6:29 PM.
