Orlando Magic Forward Jonathon Isaac was the sole athlete to remain standing when his team took-on the Brooklyn Nets this week; refusing to “take a knee” as other players refused to rise for the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’
“Isaac was the lone person out of the first three games of the NBA’s restarted season. He also didn’t wear a Black Lives Matter shirt and instead chose to stand with his arms at his back with his Magic jersey showing,” reports Fox News.
Nets and Magic players and staff show solidarity during Friday’s National Anthem. pic.twitter.com/DMmFOZl61T
— YES Network (@YESNetwork) July 31, 2020
“It’s also worth noting that Isaac was ruled out for the rest of the season in February after suffering a significant knee injury in January. He was able to play because of the time lapse between the injury and the NBA restarting the season. He checked into the game wearing a giant white leg brace on his left leg,” adds Fox.
“Just because we are in the position of being an NBA player, it doesn’t give us automatically an understanding or insight to issues that happen around us. But I think because we have the ear of so many it’s important for us to be diligent, to be vocal, but in a balanced way,” said Isaac in June.
Read the full report at Fox News.
NBA Backs BEIJING? Pro-Hong Kong Signs Confiscated from Fans… in Washington, DC
Protesters had their pro-Hong Kong signs confiscated during an exhibition basketball game between the Washington Wizards and Guangzhou Loong Lions Wednesday; raising new concerns regarding the NBA and their association with the Chinese communist regime.
“Just had our ‘Free Hong Kong’ sign confiscated at Capitol One Arena at the Wizards game against the Guangzhou Loong Lions,” posted one demonstrator on social media.
https://twitter.com/JonSchweppe/status/1182070459355009027?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1182070459355009027&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitchy.com%2Fbrettt-3136%2F2019%2F10%2F09%2Factivists-have-their-free-hong-kong-sign-confiscated-during-national-anthem-at-wizards-game%2F
The news comes hours after ESPN circulated an internal memo warning all reporters to avoid discussing the ongoing protests sweeping Hong Kong.
“Chuck Salituro, the senior news director of ESPN, sent a memo to shows mandating that any discussion of the Daryl Morey story avoid any political discussions about China and Hong Kong, and instead focus on the related basketball issues. The memo, obtained by Deadspin, explicitly discouraged any political discussion about China and Hong Kong. Multiple ESPN sources confirmed to Deadspin that network higher-ups were keeping a close eye on how the topic was discussed on ESPN’s airwaves,” reports Deadspin.
ESPN is set to broadcast from China this week. The woke league with the woke broadcasting network. All shilling for Chinese communists. Y’all think they’ll say anything at all? Ha ha. The hypocrisy is crazy. When the NBA pulled out of Charlotte ESPN praised them to high heavens. pic.twitter.com/Y3ZySBJc7c
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 7, 2019
It gets worse. ESPN, which is majority owned by Disney, forbade discussion of Chinese politics in its coverage of the NBA China scandal, according to this @laurawags scoop. https://t.co/xOLsNhvPUZ
— Isaac Stone Fish (@isaacstonefish) October 8, 2019
The controversy began when the General Manager of the Houston Rockets posted -then deleted- a pro-democracy tweet in support of Hong Kong demonstrators.
The Chinese government immediately canceled a series of NBA broadcasts; calling the comments a threat to their “sovereignty.”
“Any summary of the tensions between China and Hong Kong is going to be necessarily reductive, but a summary of what’s actually going on at least provides basic context for the rest of the discussion. The idea that Chinese politics are simply too complex to talk about on sports TV just isn’t convincing,” adds Deadspin.
Read the full story here.
NBA KNEELS: All Players ‘Take a Knee’ on the Court for National Anthem as Basketball Returns to USA
All players for the New Orleans Pelicans and Utah Jazz “took a knee” Thursday night during the performance of the US National Anthem as the NBA resumed their season suspended 150 days ago due to the Coronavirus pandemic.
The @PelicansNBA & @utahjazz kneel for the National Anthem ahead of the NBA restart. pic.twitter.com/TCFolP06HM
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 30, 2020
A similar scene was witnessed during Major League Baseball’s opening game when all athletes on the New York Yankees and Washington Nationals kneeled during a moment of silence before the ‘Star-Spangled Banner.’
“Players from both teams kneel together in unity before tonight’s National Anthem,” posted the Yankees’ official Twitter account.
Players from both teams kneel together in unity before tonight's National Anthem. #OpeningDay #NYYforNY pic.twitter.com/ptW2FgfzUe
— New York Yankees (@Yankees) July 23, 2020
Watch the moment above.
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