HEY, WHEN DID YASSER ARAFAT BECOME NBA COMMISSIONER?
The NBA has aggressively sought to build its presence in China to tap into country’s vast number of diehard basketball fans. Earlier this year, the league signed a five-year extension to its online screening rights deal with Tencent worth $1.5bn, double the amount paid under its previous contract with the Chinese group. More than 490m viewers watched games on Tencent’s platforms last season, nearly triple the number in the previous season.
The NBA distanced itself from Mr Morey’s comment, issuing official statements in English and Chinese. The English apology said it was “regrettable” that Chinese fans had been offended, but added “the values of the league support individuals’ educating themselves and sharing views on matters important to them”.
However, the Chinese statement appeared to condemn Mr Morey’s tweet more strongly, saying the NBA was “extremely disappointed by the inappropriate comment” and that “he has undoubtedly seriously hurt the feelings of Chinese basketball fans”.
The references to “inappropriate” and “hurt feelings” are considered significant, as they were seen to echo language often used by Chinese officials to describe cultural gaffes by foreign groups.
The NBA’s response failed to assuage the outrage in China but also drew bipartisan criticism in Washington that the league was valuing its commercial goals over American values. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican senator, wrote on Twitter that the NBA was “shamefully retreating” in pursuit of “big $$”. Tom Malinowski, a Democratic congressman, accused Beijing of “using its economic power to censor speech by Americans”, and said the NBA’s response was “shameful and cannot stand”.
Via Clay Travis, who writes of the NBA’s dual translations, “Talk about duplicitous. Just pathetic.”
And Jim Geraghty adds, “The Soul of the NBA, a Wholly Owned Subsidiary of the Chinese Government. The Chinese government says, ‘jump,’ the National Basketball Association says, ‘how high?’ Every time an NBA official, team, or player tells us they’re socially aware, dedicated to improving their communities, throw this back in their faces.”
(Classical allusion in headline.)