South Park Gives the NBA a Lesson in How to Stand Up to China

So much for liberal virtue-signalling. If the NBA/ Rockets had attacked President Trump with some trashy halftime show they would have been on safe ground with the left and even praised as "courageous" by Hollywood. I like what "South Park" has done, but still wouldn't want my family to watch it in general. TD

National Review

Though it’s tough for any company to risk access to the Chinese market, assisting a totalitarian regime in attempting to silence critics is beyond the pale.

"Businesses operating in a globalized world must sometimes make compromises to accommodate autocratic regimes as they expand abroad, but it is essential that they don’t abandon their core values in the process. This has been brought into stark relief over the past few days, as the Chinese state has sought to punish the National Basketball Association and the television show South Park for separate criticisms of its totalitarian practices, and the former shamefully caved while the latter responded with defiance.

"After Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeted a statement supportive of the ongoing protests in Hong Kong late last week, China quickly moved to punish the team: The Chinese Basketball Association suspended its cooperation with the Rockets and announced that the streaming service Tencent would not be airing Rockets games for this upcoming season. The Rockets’ owner, Tillman Fertita, no doubt feeling Chinese pressure, publicly rebuked Morey and clarified that the GM’s comments did not represent the view of the team or the NBA. The franchise’s star player, James Harden, publicly apologized to China, and Morey deleted the tweet and issued an apologetic statement of his own. The NBA sent out an incoherent press release affirming its support for individuals’ educating themselves, the Chinese version of which even labeled Morey’s tweet inappropriate. The message was clear: The league would prioritize its relationship with China over any commitment to democratic values.

"The league was roundly criticized for its cowardice. Politicians on both sides of the aisle spoke out against its willingness to immediately fold in the face of China’s anti-Morey campaign, and with good reason. After all, this is the same NBA that consistently touts its leadership on social-justice issues and was even quick to boycott a whole state a few years ago because of a law it didn’t like, and here it was pathetically groveling before a brutal totalitarian regime in a doomed attempt to preserve its standing in the massive Chinese market." . . .