Sen. Hawley Sends Letter To NBA Suggesting Pro-Hong Kong Slogan Be Allowed On Jerseys–ESPN Reporter Responds ‘F**k You’
It wasn’t just an anti-CCP message that Senator Josh Hawley was advocating for–he suggested the phrases “Support our Troops” and “Back the Blue” as well.
On Friday morning, Senator Josh Hawley(R-MO) sent a letter to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver regarding the announcement that the league is allowing pre-approved social and political messages on the backs of players’ jerseys.
Recall, the argument that leftists made during the whole NFL kneeling situation was that not permitting someone to express themselves while wearing a uniform was akin to slavery–it was “silencing” them by only allowing them to speak when they were on company time. It was the “you can say what we allow you to say while you’re on the clock” argument.
The NBA decided to allow some activism on the court, but only activism with which they approve. How, precisely, is that much different from the much-critiqued 2016 NFL position?
Sen. Hawley noticed that the NBA wasn’t allowing any pro-Hong Kong slogans on the jerseys despite the heavy crackdown on democracy and violations of human rights currently occurring in Hong Kong.
He wrote, “Given the NBA’s troubled history of excusing and apologizing for this brutal repression of the Chinese Communist regime, these omissions are striking.” Hawley then mentioned how he had encouraged the NBA to “reverse course” but that the league has instead deepened its ties with the CCP.
He then wrote, “The league’s new policy suggests a newfound commitment to enhanced employees expression. But that free expression appears to stop at the edge of your corporate sponsors’ sensibilities. And for woke capital today, profits from the Chinese market are more popular than patriotism. The truth is that your decisions about which messages to allow and which to censor–much like the censorship decisions of the CCP–are statements about your association’s values.”
Hawley then issued a challenge to the NBA, if they are really for free speech, then they should allow players to stand up for the Uighurs and the people of Hong Kong both groups that have had their freedoms suppressed by the authoritarian Chinese Communist regime.
Noting that pro-American slogans were also excluded from the pre-approved list despite the league being based in the good ol’ U.S. of A., Hawley suggested that some quintessentially American phrases be added to the approved list–things like “Support our Troops” and “Back the Blue.” And just to make sure that the wokescolds at the NBA became apoplectic, Hawley also suggested the rah-rah ‘Murica slogan, “God Bless America.”
If @NBA is going to put social cause statements on uniforms, why not “Support our Troops” or “Back the Blue”? Or given how much $$ @nba makes in #China, how about “Free Hong Kong”! Today I wrote to Adam Silver to ask for answers pic.twitter.com/PthYR4OxmE
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 10, 2020
Senator Hawley has asked that the league respond by July 29 to the five questions he posed to them regarding their new semi-free expression stance and whether players will be censored over which issues they support.
Hawley apparently also cc’d his letter to the press because he got a two-word reply from ESPN NBA insider Adrian “Woj” Wojnarowski–“F**k you.”
Senator Hawley tweeted a screenshot of the email from Woj.
Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to @espn. It makes them real mad @Outkick pic.twitter.com/WJDxrotUBD
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 10, 2020
Just look at that respectful discourse from an ESPN reporter.
But, according to the statue-toppling leftists, it’s those horrible people on the right that are so awful.
ESPN has been wokescolding everyone for years, but now Woj is dropping f-bombs to a sitting Senator for calling out the NBA on their blatant hypocrisy.
Woj has not responded to media inquiries regarding his email to Senator Hawley’s office.
