20 Second Timeout

Kyrie Irving's Chinese Shoe Company ANTA is Involved in Human Rights Abuses, Including the Use of Slave Labor

The recent announcement that Kyrie Irving signed his father to a shoe contract was presented as a heartwarming and unique story of familial love. There is no doubt that Irving timed this announcement to coincide with the NBA Finals in order to garner maximum media attention, and thus obtain the maximum possible profits from sales of the new shoe.

An important part of that story was left out: ANTA and other Chinese shoe companies that have NBA player representatives are involved in human rights abuses, including the use of slave labor.

How many media members are knowledgeable enough and have enough intestinal fortitude to point out ANTA's sordid track record? Since Irving decided to make this announcement on the eve of the NBA Finals, will even one media member dare to question Irving about this during any of the NBA Finals media availability sessions?

It must be noted that Irving is not the only NBA player who has a shoe deal with a Chinese company; other current and retired players with such deals include Precious Achiuwa, Jimmy Butler, Alex Caruso, Hamidou Diallo, Spencer Dinwiddie, Aaron Gordon, Udonis Haslem, Gordon Hayward, Kevon Looney, Terance Mann, C.J. McCollum, Austin Reaves, D'Angelo Russell, Klay Thompson, Fred VanVleet, Dwyane Wade, Andrew Wiggins, and Lou Williams. 

All of those players should be called out, not just Kyrie Irving--but the NBA cares about profits, not people; the Chinese persecution of Uighur Muslims does not concern self-proclaimed "progressives" in general, nor does it concern the NBA--which touts itself as the most "progressive" sports league--in particular. "Progressives" speak out about alleged human rights violations in Gaza because this serves their preferred antisemitic/anti-Zionist narrative, but the reality is that they don't care about Muslims in Gaza, China, or anywhere else, because if they cared then they would speak out against China instead of focusing their attention on false allegations against the only democratic nation in the Mideast.

Will anyone have the guts to ask Irving why he proudly wears a keffiyeh to show his support for Hamas' terrorism against Israel and the Jewish people while also profiting off of the enslavement of Uighur Muslims in China? Will anyone ask Irving to speak out against Hamas' persecution of Gazans, including stealing the aid provided by the international community? Does anyone care about Irving's blatant hypocrisy of claiming to care about Muslims when in fact his Chinese shoe company is persecuting Muslims?

Or are we just going to be subjected to the Kyrie Irving redemption narrative devoid of facts and context? That narrative is rapidly descending into propaganda actively promoted by sympathetic media outlets and media members.

Irving often states that Kobe Bryant was his mentor. Bryant spoke out against Arab/Islamic genocide in Sudan. Will Irving ever speak out against Arab/Islamic genocide and totalitarianism? Or is Irving so wrapped up in promoting antisemitic conspiracies that he cannot bring himself to speak out against Arab/Islamic countries and movements that are antisemitic? Irving mentions the rights of indigenous people. Is he aware that Arabs/Muslims colonized and depopulated a vast swath of territory extending from Morocco all the way to Pakistan? Will Irving ever speak out about the Arab/Muslim persecution of indigenous African, Mideast, and Asian communities?

Irving cannot have it both ways: he cannot insist on being judged only as a basketball player but then also tout himself as some kind of humanitarian philosopher while he is promoting antisemitism and profiting off of human rights abuses.

Former NBA player Etan Thomas spoke out against the Brooklyn Nets suspending Kyrie Irving for promoting a film containing antisemitic tropes. Thomas has been very critical--in a baseless and uninformed way--of Israel for alleged human rights violations. When will Thomas speak out against Irving and all of the other NBA players who are profiting from China's human rights abuses? Former NBA players Craig Hodges and Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf say a lot about Israel and Gaza; have they ever spoken out against Chinese persecution of Muslims? Thomas, Hodges, Abdul-Rauf, Irving, and others are making it clear, based on what they speak about and what they are silent about, who and what they actually represent; what they actually represent has little to do with fighting oppression. They are advancing an anti-democracy/anti-capitalism/pro-Marxist agenda; anything that they believe advances that agenda will be mentioned, and anything that they believe does not advance than agenda will be ignored. China is a communist country, so Chinese oppression does not advance an anti-democracy/anti-capitalism/pro-Marxist agenda. That is why Irving wears a keffiyeh while profiting from Chinese persecution of Muslims, and that is why Thomas, Hodges, Abdul-Rauf, and others are so pro-Irving and so silent about China.

ESPN knows about and has covered the fact that Chinese shoe companies with NBA player representatives use slave labor and commit human rights abuses--but will Mike Wilbon, Stephen A. Smith, Brian Windhorst, Dave McMenamin, or anyone from ESPN's wall to wall NBA Finals coverage have the courage to call out Irving's hypocrisy? Irving is using his status as an NBA star to profit off of Chinese oppression, and he has used his huge social media presence to promote antisemitism; media members have an obligation to question Irving about these topics.

Labels: ANTA, antisemitism, China, Etan Thomas, Kyrie Irving

posted by David Friedman @ 11:39 AM

0 comments