Boston Celtics centre Enes Kanter has been pilloried on Chinese social media and his name appeared to be blocked on the popular Weibo messaging platform after he criticised Chinese President Xi Jinping and China's treatment of Tibet.
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In addition Chinese broadcaster and NBA partner Tencent are not showing current or archived Boston Celtics games on its platforms.
Kanter, who is Turkish and has a history of activism, tweeted a two-minute video of himself expressing support for Tibet and wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the image of the Dalai Lama, its exiled spiritual leader.
"I'm here to add my voice and speak out about what is happening in Tibet. Under the Chinese government's brutal rule, Tibetan people's basic rights and freedoms are non-existent," Kanter said in the video posted on Wednesday (US time), along with text describing Xi as a "brutal dictator".
Kanter posted similar messages on his Instagram feed. On Wednesday, he wore shoes emblazoned with the phrase "Free Tibet' during the game against the New York Knicks made by Baidiucao, a dissident China-born cartoonist and artist based in Australia.
Kanter did not play in Boston's season-opening 138-134 loss to New York on Wednesday night. The game that was not shown on the streaming services that typically broadcast most NBA games to millions in China.
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin told a news briefing on Thursday that Kanter was "trying to get attention" and that his remarks "were not worth refuting".
"We will never accept those attacks to discredit Tibet's development and progress," he said.
Kanter's remarks, and the backlash, come two years after then-Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey's comments in support of the democracy movement in Chinese-ruled Hong Kong prompted state broadcaster CCTV to cease broadcasting NBA games and e-commerce vendors to remove listings for Rockets merchandise.
The tweet also followed the Wednesday arrival of the Olympic torch in Beijing, whose scheduled hosting of the Winter Games in February 2022 has prompted calls for boycotts over Chinese treatment of Tibet, Uyghur Muslims and Hong Kong.
Beijing has ruled the remote western region of Tibet since 1951, after its People's Liberation Army marched in and took control in what it calls a "peaceful liberation", and considers the Dalai Lama a separatist.
A Weibo fan page for the Boston Celtics with over 650,000 followers wrote that it would cease updating its social feed after Kanter's tweets.
Twitter is blocked in China.
On the Celtics' official Weibo page, more than 100 commentators left comments on Thursday criticising the club and Kanter, with some calling for him to be sacked.
An outspoken critic of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan, Kanter, 29, was indicted in his home country in 2018 on charges of belonging to an armed terrorist group, which he denies. Turkey, which revoked his passport, is seeking his extradition.
Australian Associated Press
