LeBron James and the Lakers take on the Brooklyn Nets in a Shanghai preseason game amid a controversial pro-democracy tweet that has angered China
FREE SPEECH. The NBA has always championed free speech among its players like LeBron James, one of the league’s outspoken superstars. Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images/AFP
In an open letter, a bipartisan set of US lawmakers urged the NBA on Wednesday to suspend all activities in China until Chinese firms and broadcasters end their various boycotts of the league over the controversy. Crews on Wednesday also tore down giant promotional banners showing James and other evidence of the match throughout Shanghai, as Chinese netizens called for the games to be scrapped."The Lakers and the Nets will face each other in the NBA China game in Shanghai beginning tonight at 1930," the NBA said on its verified Chinese social media account.
"The long-held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression, and certainly freedom of expression by members of the NBA community," Silver said in Japan.However although Chinese netizens called for fans to shun the league, a broader protest campaign on China's government-controlled internet is yet to take root.
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