The Great America Show - February 28, 2023


MEET THE COURAGEOUS FORMER NBA PLAYER PUSHED OUT OF THE NBA FOR DARING TO CRITICIZE CHINA & TURKEY


Episode Stats


Length

25 minutes

Words per minute

156.73206

Word count

3,966

Sentence count

266

Harmful content

Misogyny

2

sentences flagged

Hate speech

7

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Enis Cantor Freedom is a former NBA player who has been blackballed by the league for speaking out against China. He also talks about the devastating earthquakes that have devastated Turkey, and why he believes China should pay for the relief efforts.

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.000 Hello, everybody. I'm Lou Dobbs, and welcome to The Great America Show. Thank you for joining us.
00:00:05.260 The Biden administration is hard at work as usual, although it's often hard to tell what
00:00:10.820 they actually are working at. This time, they've been working on something we've all known and
00:00:16.100 suspected for quite some time. The U.S. Energy Department finally admitting this week for the
00:00:22.000 first time ever, the COVID China virus, most likely, as they put it, arose from a lab leak
00:00:28.980 in the Wuhan Institute of Virology. We are now more than three years from the inception of the
00:00:35.140 China virus that has taken the lives of more than a million Americans and almost seven million
00:00:40.660 worldwide. This is the first admission from the Biden administration about the origin of the virus.
00:00:48.220 China's foreign ministry Monday dismissed that report, insisting the United States is looking to,
00:00:53.820 quote, smear China and demanded we, quote, stop politicizing origins tracing. Well, there you 0.54
00:01:01.060 go. And we'll see whether the Biden administration stands up against Beijing and stands up for all
00:01:07.880 those who lost their lives to the China virus. Our guest today is someone who stood up and paid a big
00:01:14.100 price for speaking out against China. His name is Ennis Cantor Freedom. He played in the NBA from 2011 to
00:01:22.560 2022, a first round draft pick out of a high school with a highly successful career. Ennis has been
00:01:29.980 blackballed by the NBA, preventing him from playing in the league since taking a strong stance against
00:01:36.160 China, their dictatorship and the treatment of the political prisoners in those Uyghur labor camps. Ennis, it's
00:01:43.500 great to have you with us here on The Great America Show. Delighted. And I have to say, I've been looking
00:01:47.780 forward to talking with you for some time. You're truly a hero for all who believe in free speech
00:01:53.520 and assert themselves and their views in the public arena. I just want to congratulate you,
00:01:59.580 commend you and tell you how much I respect you for what you're doing.
00:02:03.980 I appreciate that, man. Thank you for having me. That means a lot.
00:02:06.780 And I'd also like to begin today with how, what you are hearing from friends and relatives in Turkey,
00:02:17.320 that tragic series of earthquakes that has devastated so many people.
00:02:26.000 You know, it's definitely one of the biggest heartbreaking disasters that Turkey ever faced,
00:02:31.960 you know. So it's, I mean, I'm one of the lucky ones because my family was living in the west side
00:02:39.160 of Turkey, so they didn't really get affected much. But so many of my friends' families, I mean,
00:02:45.740 I had a friend who I had a conversation with a few days ago. He said he lost 11 of his family members.
00:02:53.700 So many people are suffering right now. But I think, you know, what actually gave me so much hope and
00:03:00.960 actually motivates me is international community. Obviously, you know, Erdogan's regime, Turkish
00:03:07.340 government is not an easy government to work with, but international community from all over the world
00:03:13.620 doing best they can to help rescue teams, help food, help send food and all that stuff. So it definitely
00:03:20.020 made me really happy.
00:03:21.660 Well, that's wonderful in the response. And I will credit President Biden. He immediately said,
00:03:30.000 whatever is needed, the United States will send help and aid. And I was pleased, very pleased to see
00:03:40.000 him take that action the instant that those earthquakes had occurred. It also looks like it's going to be a
00:03:47.280 very difficult task to reach and to recover so many bodies that these early reports on the death toll, unfortunately,
00:03:57.400 are probably going to be underestimates. And the tragedy will only worsen from here in terms of the numbers who have
00:04:07.640 died in that horrible earthquake. I want to turn, if I may, to you. And I think our audience is going to be surprised to
00:04:22.680 learn that you have a bounty on your head by the Turkish government. How did this outlandish bounty come to be?
00:04:34.420 I know that you were not pleasing the Erdogan government, but I had no idea that they put a bounty on your head.
00:04:44.800 Well, the quick story of it was, so I talked about the problems were happening in Turkey for the last,
00:04:51.720 you know, 10 years. And it started with the 2013 corruption scandal. And I actually put a tweet out there
00:04:58.080 because after Erdogan's corruption scandal, he started to put innocent people in jail.
00:05:04.420 Who actually caught him, the police, prosecutors, judges, and who he started to go around and shutting down media.
00:05:11.180 That's why we're talking about this scandal. And I was like, as an NBA player, I just put a tweet out there
00:05:16.920 because I was like, I don't care who you are, but if you are fighting against the free media, I'm going to say something about it.
00:05:23.060 So I put a tweet out there. It became a conversation. And after that, I started to be more outspoken.
00:05:29.840 So some of the things that I actually talked about, it actually affected me and my family.
00:05:35.600 My dad was a scientist. He got fired from his job. My sister went to medical school for six years.
00:05:40.620 I believe she still cannot find a job till this day. And I think the saddest one was my little brother
00:05:45.220 because he was playing basketball in Turkey and he wanted to be like his big brother, become an NBA player.
00:05:51.400 But he was getting kicked out of every team because of the same last name.
00:05:55.160 So they were getting affected so much, they had to put a statement out there and said, we are disowning NS.
00:06:01.120 The latter is actually still out there on the Internet.
00:06:04.240 The Turkish government didn't believe that. They sent police to my house in Turkey and they raided the whole house.
00:06:09.020 And they took every electronics away, phones, computers, laptops, iPads, because they wanted to see if I am still in contact with my family or not.
00:06:17.840 They couldn't find no evidence, but they still took my dad in jail for a while because they wanted to shut me up.
00:06:24.660 So we put so much pressure from here to Turkey, they had to let him go.
00:06:29.340 But then they revoked my passport. They put my name on Interpolis, actually.
00:06:32.800 And just, you know, a few weeks ago, they put me on the most wanted terrorist list and they put a bounty on my head.
00:06:39.960 And it was just I was just shocked. I was like, this is literally putting my life in danger in U.S. soil.
00:06:46.380 So that's why, you know, I was actually doing a basketball camp in the Vatican.
00:06:50.640 I left immediately the next day because the FBI was actually really worried that they could just come and do something.
00:06:58.040 So has President Biden stepped in at all to to in any way protect you to try to bring some reason to Erdogan?
00:07:11.040 So after the bounty news, you know, I went to I went to Congress and I sit down, had a conversation with the senators, congressmen, congresswomen.
00:07:22.900 And I told him about how is unacceptable the foreign government can put a bounty on American citizen head in U.S. soil.
00:07:32.620 I was like, we got to do something about it.
00:07:34.640 So we put a letter and I believe 35 members of the Congress signed it, actually, and we sent it to President Biden and said, please do something about it because this is unacceptable.
00:07:46.720 We had not heard from him yet.
00:07:49.000 We sent another letter to Anthony Blinken and we have not heard from him yet either.
00:07:54.420 And now we are circulating another letter to Jake Sullivan.
00:07:57.980 And I don't believe that we are going to hear anything from him.
00:08:01.100 And it just it's a shame how to me, it's just a shame because how this, you know, they can do this in U.S. soil to an American citizen.
00:08:11.460 And my president is telling us about it.
00:08:15.300 It's it is stunning that you as an American citizen, you remain a Turkish citizen as well, correct?
00:08:22.840 Well, I believe they kick me.
00:08:25.100 Yeah, I'm sorry.
00:08:26.280 I believe they revoke my passport.
00:08:30.980 So I don't know if I am still a Turkish citizen or not.
00:08:33.440 I'm not really sure.
00:08:35.500 Well, you the main point here is that you are an American citizen being treated like this by the government of Turkey, by the president of Turkey himself.
00:08:46.180 It is it is it is stunning to me that the White House and the State Department have not responded because you are you are exemplary in your support of the Constitution.
00:08:59.400 And you're and and and standing up for free speech.
00:09:02.920 You have bravely stood up against the NBA and any who are sympathizers with communist China for China's treatment of the Uyghurs.
00:09:14.320 You're you are a model, if I may say, for for all citizens.
00:09:19.400 So I will actually tell you a story about it.
00:09:23.400 Just last year, I was eating lunch with a senator and while I was eating lunch, I asked him, do you think President Biden knows my story?
00:09:33.120 And the senator said, absolutely.
00:09:35.660 And then I was like, since the day he took to office, I have been trying to get in touch with him or his administration and have not heard from them yet.
00:09:44.720 But I was like, why they have not returned my calls?
00:09:50.180 They said, well, because our Turkey is a NATO ally and President Biden meeting with you is pretty much telling Erdogan, screw you.
00:09:58.920 So I don't think it's going to happen.
00:10:01.080 So I told the senator, I was like, Senator, no disrespect, but you are telling me the most powerful man in the world is pretty much scared to meet with a 29 year old NBA player.
00:10:12.020 The senator said, I'm not going to say that he is, but he basically is.
00:10:18.180 And that actually shocked me, you know.
00:10:20.560 So at that moment, I just didn't know what to do anymore.
00:10:25.520 Well, I have to say, I think everyone listening is shocked by your story and the way that you have been treated, not only by our president, but by the State Department, by everyone you've turned to.
00:10:39.380 And particularly, particularly your stand against China and the NBA, you are a player who now has been blackballed for your views, while LeBron James has a view about everything, but seems to prosper.
00:11:02.140 I wonder how that must make you feel.
00:11:05.940 So two years ago, when they put us in an NBA bubble, it was during the, you know, all the protests were happening in America.
00:11:16.420 And I remember the, all the players came out and said, we are more than athletes.
00:11:22.860 You know, we are social justice warriors.
00:11:25.620 The NBA was the first organization actually went out there and said, we are, we are more than just a basketball organization.
00:11:32.320 We care about what's happening around the world.
00:11:35.120 We care about social justice.
00:11:36.540 They even put all the logos on the floor, all the phrases behind our jersey.
00:11:42.260 A lot of people took me, took a knee and stuff.
00:11:45.340 So I was like, okay, you know, that's great.
00:11:48.480 If that's what you want to, you know, stand up for, that's amazing.
00:11:51.800 But two years later, this happened.
00:11:53.640 So I sit down with Adam Silver or so many other actually people from the NBA, I was like, you guys are hypocrites.
00:12:01.820 You guys are hypocrites because you guys will only stand up for the things that is not going to affect your money and business.
00:12:07.740 Because they know if they say anything against the Chinese government, that they are going to lose billions of dollars.
00:12:15.140 And unfortunately, not one player or coach or someone from the NBA office just stands next to me.
00:12:23.120 Because all they care about is money and business.
00:12:26.940 They have no morals, no principles, and no values.
00:12:30.500 And all these players that's going out there calling themselves the freedom fighters or, you know, social justice warriors, human rights activists,
00:12:38.100 they will shut up and dribble the ball if the things that they talk about affects their money and business.
00:12:46.560 Now, social justice for everyone but the Uyghurs. 1.00
00:12:49.400 Social justice for everyone except those who are in child labor camps.
00:12:54.480 Social justice as long as it doesn't cost anyone anything.
00:13:00.760 They can just put a slogan on a football field or a basketball court.
00:13:06.240 And it counts for what?
00:13:09.620 It's just advertising.
00:13:11.340 It means nothing because the messaging is so – I agree with you.
00:13:15.260 It is so insincere, so inauthentic.
00:13:18.220 And it is virtue signaling at its worst, in my opinion.
00:13:23.440 It's very disappointing to see the NBA put that much money – and we know money drives everything –
00:13:31.540 but to put that much money in front of values that they say they are, well, supporting.
00:13:40.640 No, it just creates to me how the biggest dictatorship in the world can control 100% American-made company like NBA or Nike
00:13:52.640 and fire a U.S. citizen, you know?
00:13:56.100 So that was the one thing that was just blowing my mind.
00:14:00.200 How?
00:14:01.420 And I really wanted to expose their hypocrisy because whatever they stand up for is just a lie.
00:14:08.600 So the fans can be like, wow, you know, they are standing up for something other than basketball, blah, blah.
00:14:15.200 But I promise you, they do not care about any of that.
00:14:19.280 I was in the locker room with some of my teammates.
00:14:23.900 All they're doing is for their own PR.
00:14:27.180 And they don't really feel that in their heart.
00:14:30.180 If they would have – you know, while we are talking right now, there's a genocide happening.
00:14:34.580 Two, three million people are getting tortured and raped every day.
00:14:38.020 And I'm not even talking about the organ harvesting, surveillance cameras.
00:14:42.180 And this is only one – just Uyghurs. 1.00
00:14:44.260 You look at Tibetans, Hong Kongers, Taiwanese people, Falun Gongs or Mongolians. 1.00
00:14:49.760 You know, they are all suffering.
00:14:51.620 Human is human.
00:14:52.480 Then say something about that.
00:14:54.220 They won't because they know as soon as they say anything against the Chinese government,
00:14:58.360 they will be losing their contracts, shoe sales, jersey sales, businesses and stuff.
00:15:03.460 So, unfortunately, it's disgusting, and I wanted to expose it.
00:15:09.400 Well, and God bless you for doing so.
00:15:12.420 And I want to return to President Biden and raise the issue because it's extremely valid.
00:15:19.300 And that is he's being compromised by the Chinese communists.
00:15:23.120 He's received millions and millions of dollars by the think tank that's named after him at the University of Pennsylvania,
00:15:31.500 receiving over $50 million from the Chinese government.
00:15:36.280 He is compromised in every way.
00:15:39.340 Watching the balloon spectacle that we've all witnessed over the last – over a week now,
00:15:45.180 he has not responded rationally or in defense of the nation.
00:15:50.040 And he has diminished the importance of this by saying it's not a national security issue when it clearly is,
00:15:59.860 and he had to reverse himself.
00:16:02.220 So, it's very complicated, but on another level, it's very simple.
00:16:07.080 And you have described it, I think, absolutely correctly.
00:16:10.520 It is the money, and anyone who interferes with the flow of the money is going to pay a price,
00:16:16.020 and you know that better than anyone.
00:16:18.000 I want to ask how your teammates have – and your fellow basketball players have responded to you.
00:16:26.660 So, we had – it was the perfect moment because it was just before the Beijing Olympics.
00:16:34.440 So, I literally try to reach out to everybody.
00:16:38.280 It was not only my teammates, but NFL, MLB, NHL, MLS.
00:16:44.180 Forget about the American sports.
00:16:45.920 I try to reach out to Olympians around the world.
00:16:49.400 And I was like, listen, you know, just join me.
00:16:52.700 Let's become this – let's become a movement, you know, and let's stand up for all those innocent people out there.
00:16:59.620 I'm not telling you to talk about politics.
00:17:03.080 This is a human rights issue.
00:17:05.360 It doesn't matter you're from the right, you're from the left.
00:17:07.740 You have to care about human rights because it's above politics.
00:17:12.960 So, I was like, let's do it.
00:17:15.460 And they said, listen, man, especially my teammates, they were like, listen, man, we love you.
00:17:21.640 I think what you're doing is so inspirational.
00:17:23.520 We support you, but we just cannot do it out loud.
00:17:26.280 I asked them why.
00:17:27.580 They said, well, we have shoe deals, endorsement deals.
00:17:30.280 We have jersey sales.
00:17:32.040 We have a deal with Nike.
00:17:34.480 So, we just cannot stand with you.
00:17:36.520 I asked them one simple question.
00:17:38.300 I was like, put yourself in their shoes.
00:17:40.900 Have some empathy.
00:17:42.200 If your mother, if your sister, if your daughter was in those concentration camps getting tortured and raped every day, would you still pick money and business over your morals, values, and principles?
00:17:55.220 They usually turn around and leave the room or locker room, and my mind was just blowing, especially Nike athletes.
00:18:03.340 I have zero respect for Nike athletes if they want to stand up for other than just basketball because, first of all, that's NBA's biggest sponsor.
00:18:14.860 And if you look at what Nike is doing in America, they stand with Black Lives Matter, no Asian hate, LGBTQ community, and all the other stuff, right?
00:18:26.420 But when it comes to China, and everybody knows about the slave laborers and sweatshops, so I was telling my teammates, I was like, the shoes that you've been wearing, right, the kids are making those. 0.99
00:18:38.680 There are so much blood and sweat and oppression on those items.
00:18:42.200 So let's boycott it together.
00:18:45.180 Unfortunately, they told me no over and over again, and I was like, you know what?
00:18:50.580 This is just horrible.
00:18:52.940 Well, let me give you another example.
00:18:56.100 Just as brutal as the Uyghurs, and that's the way that women and children are being trafficked on our southern border. 1.00
00:19:06.560 This president, the one who ignored you, who embraces China and recognizes Turkey as first a member of NATO, and Erdogan as a national leader who he does not want to offend,
00:19:20.940 doesn't mind aligning himself with the Mexican drug cartels, where hundreds of thousands of Americans are being killed by fentanyl,
00:19:31.140 where women and children are being sex trafficked across that border that is wide open now, and for which there is no effort to stop them. 0.80
00:19:40.300 This is an outrage.
00:19:41.660 I don't see anybody putting anything about stop sex trafficking, stop fentanyl on their football fields or their basketball courts.
00:19:50.580 Wouldn't that be a smart, smart statement to make?
00:19:54.180 It would look so nice to virtue signal on that, but they haven't got the guts to do that.
00:20:00.700 I mean, exactly, because they know they cannot stand up for those things.
00:20:05.420 You know, it's just, it would just, I was just saying, like, two years ago, they were put in Black Lives Matter, Breonna Taylor, I Can't Breathe, George Floyd, and all that stuff on their shoes.
00:20:16.300 But that is another issue.
00:20:18.380 Like you said, thousands of people, thousands of teenagers, kids are dying just because of that.
00:20:25.920 So why our president does not, I don't want to say he doesn't know, he doesn't care about this issue, but I'm thinking about why.
00:20:34.840 Why hasn't he stopped it yet?
00:20:37.180 There's only one rational answer, and that is he wants to be aligned with, or he is afraid of, the Mexican drug cartels.
00:20:44.820 He doesn't even mention them.
00:20:47.140 He is a weak man, whether it's his fear or whether it's his choices.
00:20:55.020 I was actually Kevin McCarty's guest in State of the Union, and I promise you, I was just waiting for him to say something about it.
00:21:03.640 I was just waiting for him to mention human rights or cartels or the border or defense.
00:21:10.220 I promise you, I did not hear any of that.
00:21:11.860 And that broke my heart, because if you look at America right now, thousands of people, teenagers, our young generation, where we say that those people are going to be our future, the future of America, are dying because of this drug.
00:21:24.200 And we have not talked about it in a State of the Union.
00:21:28.440 Well, you're an example to all of those young people.
00:21:33.320 You're a great American, and we thank you for all that you're doing.
00:21:38.780 And also, I want to compliment the Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, for inviting you to the State of the Union and commend him as much as you dismiss, if you will, criticize the President for not recognizing you.
00:21:54.340 Let me ask, what is your future?
00:21:57.840 What is next for you?
00:22:01.020 So, I mean, I'm just 30 years old.
00:22:04.820 The sad thing is, I could play basketball another six years.
00:22:09.160 My body's healthy.
00:22:10.860 I love basketball.
00:22:12.400 I want to play basketball.
00:22:14.280 But after having a conversation with many of the basketball experts, they said, unfortunately, it's not going to happen.
00:22:21.560 More people watch NBA games in China last year than the American population.
00:22:27.440 And after speaking out about the Chinese government, unfortunately, China banned every Boston Celtics game on television.
00:22:34.760 So, and we had a research, and 40 NBA owners got tied up $10 billion in China.
00:22:42.620 So, I don't think NBA is going to happen in my future.
00:22:47.640 But, I mean, I still love the game.
00:22:50.640 I created a foundation, and now I go around the world and organize basketball camps for kids.
00:22:57.120 It's the easiest way to reach out to kids.
00:23:00.500 And whenever we do a basketball camp, my first one was in Jerusalem.
00:23:04.840 My second one was in Vatican after having a conversation and meeting with the Pope.
00:23:09.320 So, we just go organize basketball camps and bring kids from different colors, different religions, different backgrounds, and different cultures.
00:23:18.000 And we just play basketball, and we learn from each other, you know.
00:23:21.400 And that is the most beautiful way to learn.
00:23:23.600 So, right now, I mean, I just keep loving the game.
00:23:26.220 And there are millions of kids out there still love basketball.
00:23:28.680 And we can use it as a tool to shape our future.
00:23:33.900 Well, good for you.
00:23:34.780 And I have to ask, because obviously you're being discriminated against because of your views.
00:23:41.240 Have you thought of suing the NBA for collusion?
00:23:45.360 Because it clearly is.
00:23:46.580 Yes, I mean, it's a good question.
00:23:49.460 Yes, I do.
00:23:50.460 I mean, I did hire lawyers, and we are having conversations with them.
00:23:54.600 And even they told me our case is very, very strong.
00:23:58.180 And someone has to expose this hypocrite, you know.
00:24:03.280 So, yes, we are looking to sue them soon.
00:24:06.360 I just hope that American people can see what's happening, you know.
00:24:11.920 Because the more the research that I have done, the more I realize how much Chinese government is pretty much, you know, influencing American, American people. 0.91
00:24:22.160 You look at Wall Street, academia, big tech, Hollywood, NBA, sports world.
00:24:28.100 It was just crazy to me.
00:24:29.900 I was like, you know what?
00:24:31.020 Let's just expose the NBA, and we'll just start there.
00:24:33.580 Well, thank you for doing so and considering it and standing up for yourself and for values that are fundamentally American.
00:24:43.900 That is freedom and liberty and the right thing.
00:24:50.580 And it's kind of, we thank you for being with us.
00:24:52.720 God bless you, and come back soon, will you?
00:24:55.980 Of course.
00:24:56.660 Thank you guys so much.
00:24:57.600 I'm a big fan, so appreciate that.
00:24:59.920 Thank you so much.
00:25:00.800 And same back at you, my friend.
00:25:02.460 And here tomorrow, our guest will be another great American, Mr. New York himself, radio talk show host, broadcasting legend, and good friend, Mark Simone.
00:25:12.600 Please join us tomorrow.
00:25:14.620 Till then, God bless you, and God bless America.