The NBA is under siege from some fans upset over the way the league handled its controversy with China over Houston Rockets GM Daryl Morey’s tweet of support for Hong Kong protests.
The league on Sunday issued two statements in response to Morey’s tweet of support for Hong Kong protesters — one in China that apologized to Chinese people and condemned Morey — and another in the U.S. that said they support Morey’s right to share his opinion.
Many fans have been outraged since, which led the league to release a second statement on the matter.
On Tuesday night, two 76ers fans say they were kicked out of a preseason game in Philadelphia against a Chinese Basketball Association team for their Hong Kong protests support. The 76ers responded in a statement on Wednesday, saying the fans were thrown out for causing a disruption.
On Wednesday night, a few activist fans with an agenda attended a preseason game in DC between the Washington Wizards and the same Chinese team at Capital One Arena. The fans were wearing “Free Hong Kong” shirts and had a large sign that got confiscated. The fans then broke out smaller signs that fit the approved dimensions inside the arena, but they say that was later taken away.
The man who shared the videos to Twitter is Jon Schweppe. According to his bio, he is the Director of Government Affairs for the American Principles Project, making him someone familiar with political activism.
Will these sorts of demonstrations continue? The situation is starting to get out of control for the league, and each time they confiscate signs of fans making political statements, they look worse.
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