“I’m against human rights violations around the world,” declared Mark Cuban, owner of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Dallas Mavericks, joining Megyn Kelly for her Apple podcast.
“Including the ones in China?” Kelly posed ever-so impolitely.
“China is not the only country with human rights violations,” Cuban prevaricated. Adding that, “Any human rights violations anywhere are wrong.”
Then Kelly dropped the bombshell: “Why would the NBA take $500 million dollars-plus from a country that is engaging in ethnic cleansing?”
“So basically,” the NBA owner fumed, “you’re saying nobody should do business with China ever?”
Perhaps not entertaining Chinazis is the right course — especially if doing so leads to kowtowing to Chinese government demands that their genocide be met with your well-compensated silence.
“They are a customer of ours …” he continued. “I’m okay with doing business with China. And so we have to pick our battles. I wish we could solve all the world’s problems. But we can’t.”
In addition to the PR problems brought by cuddling up to China, Kelly also asked whether prominently placing “Black Lives Matter” on the league’s courts had contributed to an “unprecedented viewership collapse” for the just-finished NBA Finals.
“Each game has broken another all-time low,” wrote Bobby Burack for Outkick.com. “With a marquee match-up between the Lakers and the Heat and the league’s biggest draw in LeBron James, a drop of almost 60% is inexcusable.”
“Your audience is fleeing,” Kelly noted. “They object to the politicization of their game.”
Cuban demurred, but as Election Day approaches, I bet it has occurred to him more than once that Americans have already used their television remotes to cast some powerful votes.
This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.
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1 reply on “The NBA’s China Syndrome”
“So basically,” the NBA owner fumed, “you’re saying nobody should do business with China ever?”
Wasn’t that the standard with activists forcing companies to divest from South Africa while the apartheid government was in place?
Why not a BDS movement against China?
Then there was the Cold War. It wasn’t complete, but the US and many of its allies formed a trading bloc. Russia and its allies formed another.