Juno News - Houston Rockets GM in hot water after Pro-Hong Kong Tweet

00:00:00.000 it's been clear for a while now that the business community in Canada is going to

00:00:13.320 have to reconcile itself with its conflicted feelings about China what do

00:00:17.700 I mean by that well we've got an authoritarian communist government

00:00:21.180 increasingly trying to turn the screws against us trying to ratchet up the heat

00:00:24.840 and do all sorts of things they can against us and the business community

00:00:28.920 says please don't make waves don't make things more difficult because they want

00:00:33.660 the deals they want access to China's market eventually something's got to

00:00:38.460 give you can't keep going along these lines sooner or later the business

00:00:43.020 community is going to have to take a stand now that is a conversation that is

00:00:46.680 coming and I think the business community is going to be pushed to address it even

00:00:49.860 more but there's a bit of a curveball entering the equation now it's not just

00:00:54.360 the business community per se now it's the sports world that is going to have to

00:00:59.460 decide whether or not they're going to take a stand or let the whims of the

00:01:03.420 Chinese Communist Party ride roughshod over each other what am I talking about 1.00

00:01:07.500 here are really troubling and unfortunate scandal that erupted in the NBA general

00:01:13.860 manager of the Houston Rockets his name is Daryl Morey he issued a tweet a few days

00:01:19.620 ago where he showed support for the pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong okay

00:01:25.200 it's not very complicated right I mean a lot of us issue those tweets well hold

00:01:29.040 on a second the Houston Rockets have long been popular in China for a number of

00:01:33.840 reasons mostly because one of their star players was formerly Yao Ming and he got

00:01:39.060 a lot of attention for that team in China apparently this one tweet that Daryl

00:01:44.580 Maury made got people so riled up that China and some Chinese businesses 0.98

00:01:49.260 actually dropped their contacts dropped their connections with the Houston Rockets

00:01:54.960 and well it was gonna hurt their bottom line and apparently management was

00:01:59.700 considering firing Maury over this one lone tweet well instead of lose his job

00:02:06.120 Maury went and did this he tweeted a clarification listen to this he says I did

00:02:10.740 not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in

00:02:15.240 China I was merely voicing one thought based on one interpretation of one

00:02:20.940 complicated event I've had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and

00:02:26.220 consider other perspectives I've always appreciated the significant support our

00:02:29.880 Chinese fans and sponsors have provided and I would hope that those who are

00:02:33.420 upset will know that offending or misunderstanding them was not my

00:02:37.200 intention my tweets are my own under no way representative of the Rockets or the

00:02:42.480 NBA I say that's too bad I wish his tweet was representative of the Rockets and was

00:02:48.420 representative of the NBA we've heard increasingly how sports franchises and

00:02:52.680 big business have become woke that they are getting on board with activism and

00:02:57.300 cutting-edge causes yet they won't get on with something as very simple as

00:03:01.320 pro-democracy I mean that is not controversial at all the sort of political

00:03:05.920 issues you could get on board with they go a lot more in one direction or

00:03:09.520 another than they're saying you support democracy are you kidding me but this was

00:03:14.080 too much for some audiences in China and of course for the authoritarian

00:03:18.580 government of Xi Jinping you know I had to chuckle when he said I've had since I've

00:03:23.260 since had the opportunity to hear and consider other perspectives well you know

00:03:25.960 what since this issue Canada spat with China has has been surfacing and

00:03:30.680 getting worse I too have had the opportunity to hear a whole bunch of

00:03:33.940 perspectives I have been learning more and more studying more about Xi Jinping

00:03:38.500 and all the issues on the ground and trade issues in the Belt and Road

00:03:41.500 Initiative and the more I learn the more I determine that I am in support of

00:03:46.840 things like the Hong Kong pro-democracy activists and I'm in support of things

00:03:51.820 like withdrawing Canada from the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank it's

00:03:56.740 incredibly troubling that Daryl Morey would feel forced to actually make these

00:04:02.080 tweets not so much because of his management and because of the team and

00:04:05.680 the franchise and the league but because the Chinese government clearly

00:04:10.700 clearly putting pressure on him to back down on this I mean if we're at a point

00:04:16.780 where the general manager of a professional basket team basketball team

00:04:21.400 cannot voice pro-Hong Kong democracy messages we've got to ask ourselves who

00:04:28.060 can

Juno News - October 08, 2019

Houston Rockets GM in hot water after Pro-Hong Kong Tweet

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