{"id":1012194,"date":"2021-11-14T18:29:18","date_gmt":"2021-11-14T23:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1012194"},"modified":"2021-11-14T18:29:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-14T23:29:24","slug":"kanter-blasts-nba-claims-he-was-asked-to-remove-free-tibet-sneakers-for-fear-of-being-banned","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/kanter-blasts-nba-claims-he-was-asked-to-remove-free-tibet-sneakers-for-fear-of-being-banned\/","title":{"rendered":"Kanter Blasts NBA, Claims He Was Asked To Remove \u2018Free Tibet\u2019 Sneakers For Fear Of Being \u2018Banned\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">34<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fkanter-blasts-nba-claims-he-was-asked-to-remove-free-tibet-sneakers-for-fear-of-being-banned%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1012194&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Last week, Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter ripped the NBA during an interview with journalist Christiane Amanpour.<\/p>\n<p>Amanpour first asked Kanter if the NBA was concerned about his outspokenness regarding Communist China \u2014 citing the kerfuffle with Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and Hong Kong.<\/p>\n<p>Kanter replied that he stands \u201cfor justice and freedom\u201d no \u201cmatter who it\u2019s for or against,\u201d then offered a comparison between how he was treated for speaking out against Turkey versus China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI have been talking about all the human rights violations and injustice [happening] in Turkey for 10 years, and I did not get one phone call. I talk about China one day \u2026 I was getting a phone call once every two hours,\u201d the basketball player said.<\/p>\n<p>Kanter then told Amanpour that when he first donned his \u201cFree Tibet\u201d sneakers on the court in Madison Square Garden, \u201ctwo guys from the NBA\u201d approached him and said that he needed to remove his shoes. When the officials allegedly told him that he wasn\u2019t actually breaking any rules, Kanter kept his sneakers on, and the officials apparently later apologized.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[I\u2019m] getting ready for my citizenship test, and I\u2019ve been studying really hard, and there\u2019s 27 amendments, and my First Amendment is the greatest amendment, is the freedom of speech,\u201d Kanter reportedly told the officials.<\/p>\n<p>Kanter also claimed that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told him that he and the organization were supportive of the player\u2019s comments against China.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t know how much that is true because if they were really supporting me, they would have put something out there, they \u2026 would put like some kind of statement \u2026 because I told Adam this too: our team games, the Boston Celtics games, are banned in China, and this is unacceptable just because I talk about the human rights violence that happened over there,\u201d Kanter said to Amanpour.<\/p>\n<p>Enes Kanter has become an outspoken critic of Communist China and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Friday, the Celtics players <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/taiwan-president-thanks-enes-kanter-after-athlete-says-taiwan-at-the-frontlines-against-chinas-dictatorship\">released a video<\/a> defending the sovereignty of Taiwan, to which the president of Taiwan replied with a thankful message.<\/p>\n<p><em>AMANPOUR: So, you say you do not mind about the money, about the influence, about anything, but what about the NBA? They must mind \u2026 because now, as we know, the Houston Rockets official who talked about Hong Kong a couple of years ago, they pulled all NBA from Chinese state television, and now Tencent, which is<\/p>\n<p><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week, Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter ripped the NBA during an interview with journalist Christiane Amanpour.Amanpour first asked Kanter if the NBA was concerned about his outspokenness regarding Communist China \u2014 citing the kerfuffle with Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey and Hong Kong.Kanter replied that he stands \u201cfor justice and freedom\u201d no \u201cmatter who it\u2019s for or against,\u201d then offered a comparison between how he was treated for speaking out against Turkey versus China.\u201cI have been talking about all the human rights violations and injustice [happening] in Turkey for 10 years, and I did not get one phone call. I talk about China one day \u2026 I was getting a phone call once every two hours,\u201d the basketball player said.Kanter then told Amanpour that when he first donned his \u201cFree Tibet\u201d sneakers on the court in Madison Square Garden, \u201ctwo guys from the NBA\u201d approached him and said that he needed to remove his shoes. When the officials allegedly told him that he wasn\u2019t actually breaking any rules, Kanter kept his sneakers on, and the officials apparently later apologized.\u201c[I\u2019m] getting ready for my citizenship test, and I\u2019ve been studying really hard, and there\u2019s 27 amendments, and my First Amendment is the greatest amendment, is the freedom of speech,\u201d Kanter reportedly told the officials.Kanter also claimed that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver told him that he and the organization were supportive of the player\u2019s comments against China.\u201cI don\u2019t know how much that is true because if they were really supporting me, they would have put something out there, they \u2026 would put like some kind of statement \u2026 because I told Adam this too: our team games, the Boston Celtics games, are banned in China, and this is unacceptable just because I talk about the human rights violence that happened over there,\u201d Kanter said to Amanpour.Enes Kanter has become an outspoken critic of Communist China and Chinese President Xi Jinping. On Friday, the Celtics players released a video defending the sovereignty of Taiwan, to which the president of Taiwan replied with a thankful message.AMANPOUR: So, you say you do not mind about the money, about the influence, about anything, but what about the NBA? They must mind \u2026 because now, as we know, the Houston Rockets official who talked about Hong Kong a couple of years ago, they pulled all NBA from Chinese state television, and now Tencent, which is the streaming device, has actually pulled you all from the streaming device \u2014 and that is a lot of money. I think they pay \u2026 more than a billion dollars to the NBA. So, what do you say about that?KANTER: I will just tell you this: I am for justice and freedom. It doesn\u2019t matter who it\u2019s for or against. I remember, you know, I have been talking about all the human rights violations and injustices [happening] in Turkey for 10 years, and I did not get one phone call. I talk about China one day \u2026 I was getting a phone call once every two hours.AMANPOUR: Who were you getting phone calls from? Is it from the NBA? Have they said anything? Because they haven\u2019t said anything publicly about you, as far as I can gather.KANTER: I will tell you a story. I remember, it was the first time, it was our first game actually, it was in Madison Square Garden, and I wore \u201cFree Tibet\u201d shoes and went out there. I remember two, right before the game, it was two guys from the NBA came up to me and said, \u201cYou have to take your shoes off. We are begging you.\u201d And I was like, \u201cI\u2019m sorry, what are you talking about?\u201d He said, \u201cYou have to take those shoes off; we are getting so many calls,\u201d and I was like, \u201cIs there a rule that I\u2019m breaking by wearing these shoes?\u201d They said \u201cno,\u201d then I was like, \u201cOkay I\u2019m \u2026 getting ready for my citizenship test, and I\u2019ve been studying really hard, and there\u2019s 27 amendments, and my First Amendment is the greatest amendment, is the freedom of speech.\u201d And I\u2019m like, I know my rights; you cannot take my rights away from me. And I was like, \u201cI don\u2019t care if I get fined; I\u2019m not going to take my shoes off.\u201d And they told me, \u201cWe are not talking about fine, we are talking about getting banned.\u201d I\u2019m like, \u201cListen, I don\u2019t care if you \u2014 whoever is your bosses, go tell them I\u2019m ready to get banned. If I\u2019m breaking any\u00a0rules, tell me; I\u2019ll be the first one to follow the rules, but if I\u2019m not breaking any rules\u2026\u201dObviously, they came and apologized in half time, and they said \u201cSorry,\u201d but I was like, \u201cI\u2019m not breaking any rules; I\u2019m gonna do what I\u2019m doing.\u201dAMANPOUR: So, do you think the NBA, therefore, has come to a different kind of understanding of all of this? Because back when the Houston Rockets official Daryl Morey, he tweeted, all he did was tweet in support of pro-freedom and pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, and the NBA didn\u2019t back Morey.But subsequently, in the intervening time, they have said the NBA will not put itself in a\u00a0position of regulating what players, employees, and team owners say or will not say on these issues. We simply could not operate that way. So, you must be satisfied with their\u00a0stance.KANTER: Let me just tell you this first. NBA made me do this, because every time, when one of the NBA teams or the commissioner came out and speak, they say, we are encouraging our players to talk about whatever they want to talk about; we are giving the freedom to our players to talk about all the injustices happening around the world, all the human rights abuse around the world. So, they give me this right; they told me to do this, basically.But the other thing is obviously I sit down with people from the NBA, and I even sit down\u00a0with Adam Silver, and had a conversation, and I told him, Adam, listen, am I breaking any rules? Because if I\u2019m breaking any rules, please tell me, I\u2019ll be the first one to follow every NBA rule because NBA gave me what I have and I don\u2019t want to break any kind of rules that you guys have put on. He said, \u201cNo, you\u2019re not breaking any rules.\u201d Well, I told them, is the NBA against China? Is NBA and Adam Silver and the all the organizations \u2026 all the teams and owners, are they supporting Enes Kanter? He told me, \u201cYes, we are supporting you against China.\u201dSo that is one. The second thing is, you know, I don\u2019t know how much that is true\u00a0because if they were really supporting me, they would have put something out there, they \u2026 would put like some kind of statement \u2026 because I told Adam this, too: our team games, the Boston Celtics games, are banned in China, and this is unacceptable just because I talk about the human rights violence [that are happening] over there. People think I do politics; I don\u2019t do politics. I do human rights.AMANPOUR: I just want to make sure, you\u2019re not saying the NBA gave you the green light to say this stuff; you\u2019re just saying that their rules are that freedom of expression is an American right, or are you saying they specifically gave you the green light? \u2026 So not specifically, but just the general commitment to freedom of speech, right?KANTER: Right, yes.The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a member.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1012194","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1012194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1012194\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1012194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1012194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1012194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}