The National Basketball Association (NBA) has drawn widespread criticism this week for not standing by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey after he posted a tweet in support of pro-democracy demonstrators in Hong Kong. And some of that criticism is coming from Gen-X tech entrepreneur and Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang.
Although the 44-year-old Asian-American is a New Yorker who was born and raised in the U.S., his parents were from Taiwan originally — and in an interview with The Hill, Yang asserted that going out of their way to appease the authoritarian government of the People’s Republic of China is not a good move for the NBA.
“The Chinese government banning NBA games because of a deleted tweet by a franchise employee is ridiculous,” Yang told The Hill. “The main losers would be the Chinese fans who would find another way to watch the games. The NBA should feel confident in its position and stand up for the free speech rights of its employees.”
After Morey’s tweet, the NBA released a statement saying it was “regrettable” that Morey had “deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China.”
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