Enes Kanter Freedom has launched a stinging attack on LeBron James amid a wave of adulation following the Lakers star’s historic achievement Tuesday night.
The former NBA veteran took aim at James on social media after he climbed to the top of the NBA’s all-time scoring charts, surpassing Kareem Abdul-Jabbar with a 38-point performance.
‘38,388 Points 0 Morals 0 Values 0 Principles 0 Empathy 1 Bow Down to #China. Congratulations to @KingJames,’ Freedom tweeted Wednesday morning.
‘People get mad when I speak the truth because I’m the only athlete who actually speaks the truth. I don’t care about your endorsement deals or your dirty money. You can NOT buy me #CCP!
‘Don’t expect me to respect you or your game when your shoes are literally made by SLAVE KIDS.’
LA Lakers star LeBron James became the NBA’s all-time leading points scorer Tuesday night
Though, former NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom sent a strong message to James postgame
Kanter Freedom has long been critical of James, who has supplied a voice on a broad range of social issues.
Vocal on a plethora of perceived injustices, James has steered clear of ever reprimanding China despite consistently criticizing various events and leaders within the United States.
In 2019, James caused anger in his home nation, and Hong Kong, after he accused then-Houston Rockers general manager Daryl Morey of being ‘misinformed’ after he ignited an international dispute between the league and China by tweeting out his support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
He shared a photo that said: ‘Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.’ China responded by taking NBA games off the air before showing them again several months later.
At the time, James did not take too kindly to Morey’s remarks which caused Chinese Central Television (CCTV) to suspend NBA broadcasts for over 28 months – aside from a brief showing of the 2020 NBA Finals – citing the dangers of free speech.
‘Yes, we do have freedom of speech,’ James said. ‘But at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others, when you only think about yourself.
‘I don’t want to get into a word or sentence feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke.
‘So many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually,’ the Lakers star continued. ‘So just be careful what we tweet and what we say and what we do. Even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, it can be a lot of negative that comes with it.’
Kanter has been equally outspoken, like James, throughout and after his NBA career ended
James later clarified on Twitter saying: ‘Let me clear up the confusion. I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet. I’m not discussing the substance. Others can talk about that.’
James may have made another misstep when he added: ‘My team and this league just went through a difficult week.’
Last year, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver admitted Morey’s comment cost the league ‘hundreds of millions’ of dollars. The NBA lost about $400m in Chinese business, according to Silver, and faced criticism in the US.
James now sits alone atop the NBA’s scoring list, adding another item to his growing legend
The shoes of Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom before an NBA game in October 2021
LeBron James’s recent commentary on topical issues
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Kanter Freedom offered to tour China’s ‘slave labor camps’ with James, Michael Jordan and Nike co-founder, Phil Knight – who was present at Crypto.com Arena Tuesday – during 2021.
‘To the owner of @Nike, Phil Knight,’ Kanter Freedom tweeted in October of that year. ‘How about I book plane tickets for us and let’s fly to China together. We can try to visit these SLAVE labor camps and you can see it with your own eyes.’
Using their twitter handles, Kanter Freedom added that James and Jordan — two of Nike’s most recognized spokespeople — are ‘welcome to come too.’ Kanter ended the post with the hashtag: #EndUyghurForcedLabor.
Most recently, Kanter Freedom has received support from House Republicans, who have called on President Joe Biden to consider sanctions against Turkish officials and entities behind a $500,000 bounty for information leading to the capture of the former NBA star.
Kanter Freedom, who amended his last name to celebrate gaining US citizenship in 2021, is on the Turkish government’s 2023 most wanted list after years of speaking out against President Recep Erdogan’s regime and its human rights abuses.
Meanwhile James has solely spoken within basketball circles for the past months.
Although in December he said he desired ‘to hold the media accountable’ after a 1967 photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones emerged as a 14-year-old observing a civil rights clash at his Little Rock high school in 1957.
Kanter Freedom offered to tour China’s ‘slave labor camps’ with James, Michael Jordan and Nike co-founder, Phil Knight via a tweet back in 2021
Morey’s initial tweet included an image captioned: ‘Fight For Freedom, stand With Hong Kong’
FORBESBUSINESS
BREAKING
Celtics’ Freedom Seeks Sit-Down With LeBron James Following China, Nike Criticism
I’m a Los Angeles-based news desk reporter for Forbes.
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Updated Apr 21, 2022, 08:18am EDT
This article is more than 2 years old.
TOPLINE
Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom said Tuesday he’d be willing to speak with LeBron James about criticisms Freedom made of the Los Angeles Lakers forward for remaining silent on human rights issues in China, and of his sponsorship deal with Nike, though James said Freedom avoided him when they recently crossed paths.
Boston Celtics’ Enes Kanter center, looks to shoot in front of Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James (6) … [+]
ASSOCIATED PRESS
KEY FACTS
The Turkish-born basketball player, who became a U.S. citizen Monday and changed his last name to Freedom, said he’d “love to sit down and talk to [James],” according to ESPN. “”I’m sure it’s going to be a very uncomfortable conversation for him. I don’t know if he’s gonna want that. I’ll make that really comfortable for him.”
Freedom has called out James in recent weeks for his sponsorship deal with Nike, whose products Freedom has claimed are made in part by factories in China that use Uyghur forced labor.
Freedom has been wearing and promoting custom shoes with images of James being crowned by Chinese President Xi Jinping, tweeting that James does “‘shut up and dribble’ when Big Boss [China] says so.”
When asked last week about Freedom’s use of his likeness on Freedom’s shoes, James said Freedom is “definitely not someone I would give my energy to. [He’s] trying to use my name to create an opportunity for himself…he’s always had a word or two to say in my direction.”
James said Freedom “walked right by” him following a game between his Lakers and Freedom’s Celtics last week—a claim Freedom denied Tuesday, stating it was James who avoided the interaction.
Freedom reiterated his criticism of Nike, calling it “the biggest hypocrite company out there” for its unwillingness to speak out on human rights violations in China despite being vocal on social issues in the United States, and referring to Nike-sponsored athletes like James and Cristiano Ronaldo as “puppets.”
Nike has stated it does not source products from the Xinjiang region and that its “ongoing diligence” has found no evidence of the employment of Uyghurs in its supply chain in China.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“I don’t know if [James] is educated enough, but I’m here to educate him and I’m here to help him, because it’s not about money,” Freedom said. “It’s about morals, principles and values…If LeBron stopped making money now, his grandkids and grandkids and grandkids can have the best life ever.”
KEY BACKGROUND
Freedom has released multiple videos criticizing China for its abuse of Uyghurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group native to Xinjiang in China, referring to the human rights violations—which have led to sanctions from the U.S., EU, U.K. and Canada—as “modern day slavery.” Freedom has called Xi a “ruthless dictator” for China’s crackdown in Hong Kong. Following his initial statements in October, the streaming service Tencent removed all Celtics games from its platform in China. In an interview with Tucker Carlson Monday, Freedom, whose arrest has been called for by the Turkish government after he criticized President Recep Erdogan, said “when you live in a country like Turkey or China or somewhere else, you will appreciate the freedoms you have here.”
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Mason Bissada
I’m a Los Angeles-based news desk reporter for Forbes. Please feel free to contact me via email (mbissada [@]
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