Enes Kanter blasted both the NBA and Nike Wednesday for not standing up to China over human rights abuses being perpetrated by the communist country.
During an appearance on PBS’ “Amanpour & Company,” Kanter questioned whether the NBA was actually on his side as he continues to speak out against China’s treatment of Tibet, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the Uighurs.
The Boston Celtics center recalled a game this season at Madison Square Garden in which he decided to wear shoes reading “free Tibet.” He said NBA officials approached him, imploring him to take them off and suggesting he could be “banned” for wearing them.
Kanter refused to take them off and stated the officials apologized to him while explaining that he wasn’t breaking any rules by wearing the shoes.
“NBA made me do this,” Kanter said. “Because every time when one of the NBA teams or the commissioner comes out to speak, they say we are encouraging players to talk about whatever they want to talk about. “We are giving freedom to our players to talk about all the injustices happening around the world, all the human rights abuses around the world. So, they gave me this right.”
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Because he has been so outspoken, China has banned playing Celtics games. He called that “unacceptable” and wished the league would have released a statement to condemn China for blocking the games from their fans.
Amanpour asked Kanter why he continued to criticize Nike despite its claim that it followed all international labor standards in producing its products in China.
“Nike, obviously, is one of the biggest — the biggest sponsor for NBA. And two years ago when all the Black Lives Matter happened, Nike was one of the first companies out there, was standing with Black Lives Matter,” Kanter said.
“Nike stands with Stop Asian Hate. Nike stands with LGBTQ community. Nike stands with Latino community. But when it comes to China, Nike remains silent because China is the big boss for Nike,” he added. “Obviously, they’re not going to be able to answer because they know what they’re doing wrong. They’re one of the biggest hypocrite companies in the world.”
Amanpour noted again that Nike publicly denied using slave labor in China.
“It’s [a] total lie. Everyone in the world knows that there are so many slave labor camps over there in China and many other countries that Nike is profiting from,” Kanter said. “So that was one of the biggest reasons that I put on my shoes, ‘Modern Day Slavery’ and ‘Hypocrite Nike,’ just because they’re profiting from slave labor camps.”
“It’s just disgusting to me to see all the Nike athletes standing up and calling themselves a social justice warrior and still can wear these items on their shoe, on their feet and on their back when on these items there is so much blood and sweat and oppression. And to me, if you’re a Nike athlete, to me, you’re a hypocrite,” he added.
