Hong Kong Protestors Burn LeBron James Jersey After His Daryl Morey Comments
LeBron James' comments Monday regarding Daryl Morey did not sit well with protestors in Hong Kong.
A day after James said the Houston Rockets general manager "wasn't educated on the situation at hand" when Morey tweeted a message in support of the Hong Kong protestors, those same protestors took to burning the Los Angeles Lakers star's jersey in the streets while chanting support for Morey, according to the Associated Press.
In his original comments, James told reporters he didn't believe Morey had considered the potential implications of his words.
"So many people could have been harmed, not only physically or financially, but emotionally and spiritually," he said, per Mark Medina of USA Today. "Just be careful what we tweet, what we say and what we do. We do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative things that come with that too."
He continued:
"I believe [Morey] was misinformed or not really educated on the situation. If he was, so be it. I have no idea, but that's my belief. When you say things or do things, you’re doing it and know the things that can be affected by it and the families and individuals that can be affected by it. Sometimes it can be changed as well. Sometimes social media is not a proper way to go about things as well. That's just my belief."
James later attempted to clarify his comments, implying that he wished Morey would have waited until there weren't NBA players in China for preseason games before making his remarks:
The Lakers forward and several other NBA players were concerned with security while in China after Morey tweeted "Fight for Freedom, Stand with Hong Kong." According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver met with players from the Lakers and Brooklyn Nets in China on Oct. 9.
In that meeting, James told Silver he felt the NBA should make a formal statement on Morey's tweet and the backlash that followed in China—which included the Rockets and NBA losing partnerships with Chinese businesses and broadcasters—rather than the players bearing the responsibility of first speaking on the topic. Part of the reason was the safety concern of the players being in the country during the controversy and also during a trade war between the United States and China.
"Being in China, where there was no way of knowing what the Chinese government was thinking or going to do next and the high stakes between the U.S. and China politically, it was almost impossible for these young players to manage through that situation," a source told Charania. "Obviously, if they were in the United States or somewhere else, it would have been totally different and handled differently."
Nonetheless, James' original comments on Morey were met with backlash in both the United States and Hong Kong.
The prevailing criticism of both the NBA and now James is that they have prioritized business ties in China and kowtowed to pressure from the country to shut down any support of the Hong Kong protests. Those demonstrators were originally protesting a bill that would have allowed China to extradite Hong Kong prisoners. The protests have since expanded in an effort to limit Chinese authority in the area.
Hong Kong has existed in a "one country, two systems" setup since it ceased being a British colony and returned to Chinese control. In that system, Hong Kong has autonomy over its legal system and economy, and the protestors declaring a desire for universal suffrage has conflicted with the Communist Party ruling system in China.
Tania Ganguli of the Los Angeles Times joins “The Full 48 with Howard Beck” to discuss the NBA in China, LeBron James comments about Daryl Morey, the LeBron and Anthony Davis relationship, and Dwight Howard’s role with the Lakers.
