A Chinese internet company with close ties to the communist government yanked Boston Celtics basketball games from the air on Thursday after the team’s center, Enes Kanter, spoke out against the dictator Xi Jinping and his political cronies for oppressing Tibet.
Tencent Sports, which maintains a streaming partnership with the National Basketball Association, abruptly ended its coverage of the popular games after Kanter posted a short video to Facebook on Wednesday calling on “brutal dictator” Jinping to “Free Tibet.”
“My message for the Chinese government is: Free Tibet. Tibet belongs to Tibetans. I am here to add my voice and speak out against what is happening in Tibet under the Chinese government’s brutal rule,” he said. Kanter also called for shame on communist China and Jinping’s “henchmen” for “erasing Tibetan identity and culture.”
Dear Brutal Dictator XI JINPING and the Chinese Government
Tibet belongs to the Tibetan people!#FreeTibet pic.twitter.com/To4qWMXK56
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) October 20, 2021
Kanter also posted a picture of his personalized sneakers emblazoned with “Free Tibet” and more imagery on Twitter.
More than 150 Tibetan people have burned themselves alive!! — hoping that such an act would raise more awareness about Tibet.
I stand with my Tibetan brothers and sisters, and I support their calls for Freedom.#FreeTibet #FreedomShoes pic.twitter.com/MKxfs1l7GA
— Enes Kanter FREEDOM (@EnesFreedom) October 20, 2021
Communist China has openly admitted its role in forcing Tibetans away from what it calls an “oppressive theocracy” into Jinping’s dictatorship where Tibetan people and monks are banned from worshipping, writing, and expressing their culture and risk torture, re-education, or even death if they don’t comply.
Kanter is no stranger to speaking from his position in the U.S. on behalf of other countries. In 2019, Kanter refused to play in a Knicks game in London after Turkish prosecutors tried to get an international warrant for his arrest after they claimed he was in a terrorist organization. Kanter’s repeated comments denouncing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for violating human rights have prompted at least nine arrest warrants from Turkey, which canceled his passport in 2017.
Shortly after Kanter’s posts, Tencent marked recent Celtics games as unavailable and signaled that it would not be live streaming the games in the future. Companies in communist China previously tried to silence opposition to the CCP’s treatment of pro-democracy leaders and protesters in Hong Kong from then-Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey by pulling sponsorships and cutting off streaming which cost the league millions of dollars. The NBA responded by complying with communist China’s wishes and shutting down questions, protest statements, and criticism of the unfurling situation in Hong Kong.
