11: Alley-Oop

Moe Factz with Adam curry for October 14 2019. This is episode number 11. Hey Moe, how you doing? I'm doing pretty good Adam, how about yourself doing real good. You know, I went to a no agenda meet up here in Austin last Thursday, and a lot of people complimented complimented the show, I want to make sure you heard that people are really loving it. I'm glad to hear that and I'm on my YouTube channel, I get a lot of feedback that people are loving the podcasts as well that

are not no agenda listeners. As of right now, I'm trying to convert them but it's okay. We bring them in with Moe Factz, and then we take it from there. Right? reminder for everyone. This is a podcast which is produced under the value for value system, which means you listened to it, if you got any value from it, please return that. And we'd like to do that at MoeFund.com mo e fund me.com keep the show going and just show the value that you got

from it. It's a way for us to measure how much how good we're doing. So no, I'll remind you at the end of the show as well. Now uh, you already told me what's going to go on with today's program. I'm very excited because I started looking into this myself. I think sometime maybe about a week ago. And then once you once you sent me a note saying oh Monday we'll do this

I'm like okay, I'm just gonna kick back relax. I thought you know, then you put me to work like doing clips and stuffs like seriously Moe we got to talk about the distribution of a workload here. You're stepping on my beats man. I look upon sports one is my beat Okay, so what can I tell you? I mean, you know when I'm just chillin I look a little watch little Fs one check out my man Jason. You know, I know what I'm up to speed. Yeah, I was when I was listening to the show yesterday. I was

like, Man, he's all over my clips. So so for the for the people that is not in the know. And are not old school hip hop fans. You might not might not have a hint by now that we're talking about the NBA, and China and I'm going ons between between the two. So let's clip heavy today. So I want to jump right in. And let's just get clip one first, some background. About more protests in Hong Kong today and tonight the conflict

between demonstrators and police is impacting Houston. The Houston Rockets are facing backlash because General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for those protesters. Stephanie Whitfield shows us how one little tweak can have huge consequences. The rockets may call Houston home, but they have fans all over the world. In fact, the team is incredibly popular in China. That's why a now deleted tweet from General Manager Daryl

Morey has led to major backlash. I'll explain. For weeks there have been massive protests in Hong Kong, which started because of a controversial extradition bill. The demonstrations have since morphed into a bigger fight for democracy in the semi autonomous territory. Well, on Friday, the rockets GM tweeted a picture that read fight for freedom stand with Hong Kong owner Tillman Fertitta quickly stepped in saying Maury does not speak for the rockets. We are not a political organization.

Well tonight, Daryl Morey apologized on Twitter, saying in part, he did not intend his tweet to cause any offense to rockets fans and friends of his in China. But the situation had spiraled anyway. And now the Chinese Basketball Association announced its ending cooperation with the Houston team. And the company that broadcast the NBA in China says it won't cover rockets games. Forbes estimates NBA China is worth more than $4

billion. And thanks to Chinese Hall of Famer Yao Ming, the rockets are one of the most popular teams, and that's why a tweet could cost the franchise millions. And some fans speculate it could cost it's GM his job. Stephanie Whitfield, k h o u 11. News. Yeah, this was great. This was so interesting to hear not following sports at all, as you've already pointed out, yes. All of a sudden, I was like, Oh, that's interesting. So what's

the deal with China and the NBA? Um, I really didn't know anything about it. Okay, so um, and I actually have a clip slip here, but I'll give you a little background. A little thing I didn't know in my digging up. Why this is such a big deal. Basketball is Chinese national sport. And it has been since like the early 1900s When the YMCA went over, really and yeah, and I'm hate us lost that clip in the shuffle but yeah, it mean it's that's why they have

this is such a big deal. Even Mao, he was a big fan of basketball. And that explains Kim Jong goons fashion fascination with it as well. Of course North Korea being closely allied to China. Yes. So all this, you're saying is coming together? And as they say, Yeah, I mean, I know you're not a huge sports fan, but he was he's probably the most famous Asian basketball star ever. When he came into the NBA, they even kind of like handpick

what markets he would go to. It was either Houston, he had to be one with a large Asian population. Right? It had to be Houston, New York, and I believe, like Golden State, which is in San Francisco. Sure. Sure. Which, which is crazy. Because a draft is supposed to be randomized. You know, it's a random. Wait a minute, but you're telling me there's funny stuff going on there? I'm shocked. Whoa. All right. Something's sports. Okay, but but we can see here with when big money's involved.

The NBA is, you know, it, it looks at his interest. First. It's a business of course, it's it's a business kind of covering as some kind of philanthropic we're just organizing the game type deal, but it's huge. Yes. And as we're gonna see here, it might be even bigger than business. But we'll get to that later. So now we have a crisis of Daryl Morey of the Houston. Right. And Wes, what was weird that it came from a, I had the franchise, which is most

known to be, you know, aligned with the Chinese market. Right. So it was weird for him to tweet that out. And I'm doing some more digging why that happened or what his where that came from. But let's get into managing the crisis. At the end of the day, the values of the link support individuals educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them, which is kind of a non retreat retreat. The NBA isn't the first nor it will be the last to tiptoe around China.

No, I think this is a case, as you mentioned yourself, this is about following the money not following your principles. And I think you know, we have to say, you know, what makes America great. It's not winning its leadership. And I think that we failed to show leadership here. And what they've responded with that I call it beached on a sludge bank of corporate POF statement is something that really is a bit vacuous and lacks the intent and the meaning that it should have.

I'd like to point out this is from me, a business channel, CNBC, which is interesting by itself. That means something with business, but also who's the British guy? What is he doing there? He is a crisis manager of auction. Does he work for Hill and Knowlton are one of these outfits? I'm not sure where he worked from. I didn't get that information. But he came in and just to speak on how the NBA should handle the crisis. And let's let me let me make something as clear here.

There are certain networks that are aligned with the NBA due to the television deals, right. And other ones that are not aligned so they can speak freely on how they truly feel about the NBA. So you have abc, ESPN, TNT, all these guys are have NBA deal TV deals, okay. So that's why you hear like, organizations like Fox, NBC, they don't have any NBA skin in the NBA game. So they

can I want to lay that out for people. That's why when I didn't really get any ESPN clips, because they're vested so much so that I couldn't show this on the graphic. And, um, because we do audio, but they showed a map of China after this happened with the South China Sea, on the map, as part of China. Was that during a news cat that was on ESPN, you said which is yes. Oh, ESPN, where they had like, you know, they knew I didn't have the big screen behind them. I have like they

showed the map of China. Sure. And some got captured on YouTube. That's good. It was like a little dotted line in the sea. Oh, my God highlighting? Yeah, that's, yeah, that's part of the nine dash line. I think we've talked about what the thing was on no agenda that the Chinese has, like in the 60s, I think there was this map and was oh, here's a couple of dashes in the sea here. Yeah. Don't worry about that. That's Oh, yeah. That's part of our territory.

Interesting, though, that they would show that and of course, both ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney now. Yes, yes. So they're all like say they're all embedded. With with the NBA I mean as they shoot his business, so but they have been very careful how they spoke about it where as you have, like you said, we both listen to Fox Sports, Fox Sports News, that's one continent. Yeah, they've been kinda like

lose lose weight, how they've been critiquing the NBA. But let's get let's listen to this continue to listen to the crisis manager. What should the NBA do now? Well, this is a crisis management situation. And what they've done so far is behaved in what the wrong way is of crisis, which is kind of to deny to delay to deflect the situation. So they've denied as their their point of view, they've deflected it on a girl in terms of making that

statement. Really, what they need to do now is respond boldly, but that's going to be very difficult because they've come out of the gate rather shy and rather show how can they respond boldly to the US audience that is upset without further upsetting the Chinese? Well, this is going to be the dilemma. And I think, you know, this is a marketing dilemma. Now, this is why this guy charges a lot of money for crisis management, because he's not telling you anything. It's

just like, well, it's a problem. Big problem. Yeah. Let me send you another invoice. He's advertising his skill. Yeah, off the top 60 seconds without saying anything. That's what a crisis manager does Dingo. So I think he's kind of advertising like, Hey, if you really, like when you click on some, if you really want to see the details, you know, enter your credit card number, sign up, register. Yeah, don't worry, you won't be charged for the first month. All right.

All right. So I'm glad you caught that. Oh, that he's not really saying anything. Which is that him displaying his skill set? I think? I think so. And I think you picked up on it as well. Yeah. So let's, let's listen to the crisis manager and his final take. You know, we've mentioned that the rockets are sort of China's home team because of Yao Ming, who played the charge of the China Basketball Association, could they? Can they kind of wait this out knowing that that the Chinese will want to

ultimately show this product to its home audience? Or do you think that this is damage that now casts a pall over the entire thinking about how many times we come on set, we talk about some crazy thing, and then a week later, no one remembers, right, usually here in the United States, usually on social media, but they'll remember in shambles China has a lot in America does not. And I think that's the

advantage here, the way the NBA should play. This is exactly that by next Wednesday, none of us are going to remember what we ate today. And we're not going to remember this potentially, that's what they have to hope on. That's going to have to be their strategy. That cannot be the strategy in China. Well, that's not going to work that strategy, because Moe Factz is on the case. And not only am I not on the case, but many other people are

on the case as well, because it's a political football. Yeah, this is a huge political football. I found this fascinating because the business aspects of it, the political aspects of it, as we know, President Trump is in actual trade war with China. So and he's no, he's been in a word war with the NBA. And it's in its players. So you have all these different players in this game, and for like, you're saying no pun intended, that are, you know, kind of, they're all

aligned in different ways. And they're all against each other in other ways. Now. So what is most interesting to me, because obviously, what's happening here is China's said, Okay, we're not going to broadcast the games. But really, there's a, there's a huge deal behind that. I mean, there's broadcast rights do they do is that something they pay up front? Do they pay monthly? How does it work with the merchandising where they just shut down shoe production? I mean, there's all this stuff

that is, is up in the air. And but we we really don't I mean, we, we know that the Chinese are upset, but I'm not quite sure exactly what that means for the NBA. It appears that the audience numbers in China are five times maybe 10 times what they are in the US and I can see we're getting a certain term that's going to hurt him sure, with ad rates and whatever. Where here's the thing, the Chinese are in a difficult spot to, because what they're doing now as a lot of posturing, but

can they really shut the NBA off? I don't think so. Good question. I don't really think so. Because there are people imagine if you say you're going to show football off in America. I mean, it's like the equivalent you will have so much outcry that the government will have to kowtow to the people. And I think China had to come out and say you know be strong in the

beginning. They had to get on top of the thing fast. Because if it and we're gonna see later why and it's show, that's just a teaser, but we're gonna see later why in the show, but um, my mind my mind is already racing Moe I can think of so many different things that has gone going on with the Chinese. I mean, my favorite thought is, maybe they just want to signal to Trump that, hey, we didn't like Obama either, you know,

something, something like that. It's just, I don't know, it could be anything. It's a lot of things. It's not just one thing. It's a lot of things. And like I said, it's a lot of different players. And one of those players in this game is the Commissioner, Adam Silver, as the crisis manager says, he's handled leads very poorly. And let's listen to him. Listen to a sample of that. As some of you may know, I issued a statement shortly

before this press conference. Because I thought there was a lot of misunderstanding out there about our position, I thought we had been somewhat straightforward, but I can understand given translations, and given interpretations in different parts of the world, why there might have been some confusion. And essentially, what I've said in that statement is the long head held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression, and certainly freedom of expression by members

of the NBA community. And in this case, Daryl Morey as the General Manager of the Houston Rockets enjoys that right. As one of our employees. What I also tried to suggest is I understand that there are consequences from that exercise. In essence, his freedom of speech, and you know, we will have to live with those consequences. I love the Hey, you did not use the transit got lost in translation dumb Chinese. You miss you miss out there before that. Oh, what was that?

He says, I thought we were somewhat straightforward. How are you? Someone works for you? Good point. Good. Kind of truthful. Come on. try my best. Right. I was kinda truthful. Yeah, like you said, but what he's doing is he's moonwalking on a razor blade here. Nice. Oh, nice. I like that term. I've never heard that. So because what he's doing is, is you have China on one side that when these kinds of things happen Chinese want blood. And

what I mean by that is they want somebody fired. They want to see hedge row. And they want to see somebody getting gotten rid of, but if he does that, it signals to the spine, something the NBA has a walk contingency, and their fan base, just because of what the NBA represents, all halves have has charged to represent. So if he goes and fires a guy over freedom of speech, then he loses that market. Right. So now he is like he's doing this balancing act. And, um, he's been very

unsuccessful with it. I think he needs to call the crisis, man. Especially, you know, I mean, I remember when Adam Silver became the commissioner. And I just remember going Wow, man, that guy looks creepy. He better say something good because just looking at him you like I don't want to do business with him. It looks like he's right out of the Addams Family.

He does he he gives you that vibe. Yeah. So so now we have, like I said before, we have some super world coaches in the NBA one being Steve Kerr, and the other one being Gregg Popovich. And so Gregg Popovich tried to do this weird parlor trick. And I'm not gonna say anything, we'll see if you can catch it. Freedom of speech, fell great again. So he's been a heck of a leader in that respect. Very courageous.

And when you compare it to what we've had to live through the last three years, big difference, big gap there leadership, wise and courage was, and it wasn't easy for him to say. He said that in an environment fraught with possible economic peril. But he sided with the principles that we all hold dearly. Or most of us do. So in the last three years, well, this is interesting what I what I got from that is, it's

Trump's fault. Whatever Trump's fault, man is three years of that psychopath, whenever something goes wrong, I blame Troy Trump. past three years have been really difficult and challenging for free speech. Right, right, right. As manager of what which team? Popovich is the coach. He's the coach. Just look, we've determined that this is the White Men Can't Jump edition of Moe Factz without him correct. So the sports beat i gotta gotta get you got to beef up your

chops. All right. Well, coaches are referred to as coaches, Adam. Oh, I'm just pulling your leg. Yeah, he's the he is the coach of the Spurs San Antonio Spurs. Oh, right down the road. Okay. Yeah. Yeah, of course I should have known so. But he's also he's been pro me anti. He's been anti trump the whole time. Trump has been in office, and he's been pro woke, woke agenda. We wish. The strange thing is, and I want to say this right off the bat. I believe these coaches have to

appear to be woke. Because Gregg Popovich came from a military background. Let me be clear on that. Actually, military intelligence, I believe in the Air Force, if I'm not mistaken. Okay. So with that said, him and Steve Kerr, our coaches have two of the biggest franchises in the NBA, and to recruit what a woke players, you

have to appear to be a woke coach. Because Gregg Popovich was originally known as being one of the most stringent system coaches, you know, there is, but he's done this weird pivot in the last few years and last several years to your SAM being very liberal. With that says, let's listen to more of Gregg Gregg Popovich. So I'm thrilled with what he said, as I said, the courage and

leadership display is off the charts by comparison. We've all talked about or heard about all the questions that all the talking heads have, and everybody for the last three years, what kind of country we want to be, who are we? Where do we want to go? That sort of thing. Adam, said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in, rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to

something like the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. And many, many incidents like that words, leadership and courage, mean nothing. It's all about personal aggrandizement. So I was thrilled. Because, wow, this is one of the best clips of projection that I've ever heard. Well, you know, we have such crap leadership, just look at Trump. And it's just horrible. And you know, it's been so hard and we're, we're real leaders bull crap. Did you catch the one thing in there? Did you catch that I'm, I

didn't ring my bell too much. Because it was so much stuff I could bring it on. As one name he brought up in there, I want to catch it was in the beginning. It may be in the middle. I play it again, and people can play along at home. So I'm thrilled with what he said it as I said, the courage and leadership displayed is off the charts by comparison. We've all talked about or heard about all the questions that all the talking heads have and everybody for the last three years, what

kind of country we want to be. Who are we? Where do we want to go? That sort of thing. Adam said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in, rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. Oh, yeah, of course. Of course. It's like, oh, well, this is why

the clip was so good. Actually. You know, if you don't have the courage to talk about something the Saudis did in Turkey, then you can watch basketball I mean, what is this guy this guy is insane to say these things. It was actually very very measured and calculated. I look at and that's maybe just just how I look at things. He was the one red meat to the media. Oh, yeah. Hi. Hey, you gonna let he didn't really talk about when he killed one of you guys wanting

to press this? Is it right and yeah, it's a good point and part and actually that did work for a little bit there at blipped I remember just in the past week or so had this blip of a little bit of Khashoggi Khashoggi news are referring to it. But, you know, the the consultant, the British consultant on CNBC, he was kind of saying what he's doing he's like, You got it. We need a divergence. Everyone forgets this by Wednesday says Guys like

yeah, Khashoggi try that out. You're right. red meats. The good good analysis. Yeah. to the media. Yeah, to the media, because he wanted to meet it. It goes off on the NBA. But the media couldn't go soft on the NBA. And I think Greg miscalculated one thing. Whenever you come for Trump, Trump is going to come back for you, you know, 10 times worse. And with that said, let me just weave now, Trump has been in his bag for the last so week and a half or so. With him say just with how he's been

coming at people. I mean, he's been shifty shift. Nervous, Nancy? Right. And nervous man, Peter and Lisa, the leader lovers. So he's in rare form. Yeah, he's in sports. When they call lathering up, he's lathering up, right. That's when you get a good sweat going to go into 2020. And so with that says he's ready for Gregg Popovich. And let's listen to the Chinese wrong to be putting pressure on the NBA, sir. Well, the NBA is a different thing. I mean, I watch this guy,

Steve Kerr. And he was like a little boy who was so scared to be even answering the question. He couldn't answer the question. He was shaking. Oh, I don't know. I don't know. He didn't know how to answer the question. And he and he'll talk about the United States very badly. I watched Popovich sort of the same thing. But he didn't look quite a scared actually. But they talked badly about the United States. But when it talks about China, they don't want to say anything bad. I thought it

was pretty sad. Actually. It'll be it'll be very it'll be very interesting. Excuse me. Are you okay? Then with the Chinese government pressuring the NBA over Hong Kong, they have to work out their own situation, NBS. They know what they're doing. But I watched the way that like, occur. Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China, and yet to our own country, they don't. It's like they don't respect it. It's like they don't respect it. I said, What a difference. Is that sad? It's

very sad. To me, it's very sad. Oh, man, classic, classic column unpatriotic. It works every time. He kicked me kicked the ball right back into it on their side of the aisle field. Yeah. And he got he dodged Dasha beautifully, because at the same time for the people that don't know, he's in serious negotiations with the first step of the Chinese agreement. Is that correct? Yeah, yeah, phase

one. Now, it still has to be, quote, written down. But in fact, I heard Steve Minuchin, the Secretary of the Treasury say, Well, this is just like buying a building, which was interesting for him to say that Trump being a builder. He said, You know what, now we got everything. We got the notes, we're gonna write it down. You know, we got to hash some stuff out. But basically, no tariff increases scheduled. And there

would be I'm not so happy with it. But technology transfer and agreements regarding five G. And then also as Trump call, as Steve magenic calls it who way but Huawei and then this, but I think the big thing here is farmers, the end, the Chinese apparently already buying instead of the $8 billion worth of goods, it'll go up to 40. They say between 40 and 50. So I'll just say 40. And then the financial integration of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and the credit card, American Express and Visa,

MasterCard into China. Those are very big deals, and quite honestly, and it wouldn't surprise me if you unfolded this, but I wouldn't be disappointed if you didn't do Trump may use the NBA some kind of a chip in this bargaining for this phase or for phase two, it wouldn't surprise me certainly teeing it up that way. He is and and he made a political decision in two ways. And the small woman it clipped to he, he put he laid down

there, won. The press was trying to get a soundbite of him coming at China and he was like, that's, that's not gonna know. That's between that right. He's like that between the NBA and China, which, for Trump, I know that was very calculated, because if he had if he had nothing to lose, he would have let go on what how he really felt but he knew he had to deal brewing in the background. And to if you notice, okay, I didn't get to Steve Kirk clip cost one there was nothing really there.

And to me, it was very audible because the he was speaking very timid and low when, you know, kind of like that and it was like so it was very uncomfortable. But Gregg Popovich was very vocal against Trump. Yeah, I'm with Steve Kerr wasn't, but Trump chose to go after Steve Carr. That was a political decision. Okay. My pinion and current. Just remind me Kerr is coach for the Golden State Warriors. Okay, gotcha. My brother from another mother out there, Steph.

Right, right. Yeah, he's your brother's coach. Which is located where? California Fornia. Sure. San Antonio is located in Texas. That's red and blue right there. Yeah. So he said, let me go after the low hanging fruit over here in California. Yeah, right on. And I don't want to I don't want to upset the applecart. You're saying, Oh, they're San Antonio fans, right. As I said, it's a lot of it's a lot of moving

pieces in this whole story. And that's why I was fascinated me and it made it very easy pick for me what the topic was going to be about today. So with that said, I am not pro China Pro Hong Kong, because I don't know a lot about it. But I know there's forces on both sides. This working, you know, working in the background. And in doing my research, I found this little it's not necessary to the story. But it was funny what I found.

former National Security Officer expose, Dennis Wilder, former National Security Council director for China joins us on the phone. Dennis, I think you are in Hong Kong. Is that correct? Nope. I'm in Washington. I do apologize. I'm sorry. I'm mistaken. My fault. My fault. Okay, no, no, I'm not out to do. No. I'm not there. Right. You got his woman National Security Office official? Well, Leslie, maybe in Hong Kong? Yeah, let me address what what we're doing what we have done

with Hong Kong. And I say this with some certainty. So we're obviously working on a trade deal with Hong Kong with the China, Hong Kong is effectively owned. And in a two, two systems state, which means Hong Kong has its own representation for government, but they also have the Chinese in there. And that's all under this weird agreement they had with the Brits, and they gave Hong Kong back but to keep the pressure up on Hong

Kong during the war on China. So Beijing keep the pressure on them during these negotiations, which has been, you know, I've been it's not small stuff that Trump has been doing. I'm 99% convinced that our own forces, I'll just say, the civilians in the State Department, ie, spooks, etc. They're over in Hong Kong, and they're bribing them up and keeping them going and giving them US flags and, and playing the US National Anthem and getting guys to say stuff like this is as Hoh, I

mean, it's brilliant, brilliant to keep the pressure up. And I think it's succeeded. And if in five weeks, we have a phase one actual written agreement, I can almost predict that Hong Kong may simmer down a little bit. And Mr. Curry, you call that alley? Oop, perfectly. Thank you, sir. And I know what that means. I know how to I know how to grab the URL up and slam it down. I know that all right. So alright, so we have USA Today. Sports pulse. They're

going to lay out the NBA. NBA is China problem. fight for freedom stand with Hong Kong. Those seven words have the MBA, shaking, politicians tweeting, and US fans scratching their heads very clearly noticing the league's hypocrisy. Here's why. The league typically stays on the sidelines when a coach like Gregg Popovich or Steve Kerr tweets, something in opposition to the Trump administration,

very on brand for their audience base. But when Daryl Morey GM of the Houston Rockets tweeted out his support for Hong Kong panic took over the leak. The Chinese Basketball Association suspended all ties with the rockets in the NBA had a choice to make nothing, support worry, or protect the relationship that the league has with China. They're trying to do it all. Yeah. All right. So that's that she was referring to what I said about him China

moonwalking and razor blade, right? So she she's even stated that being outraged and you know, taking on social issues is baked into the brand and the NBA. And this really came about recently. And I must give a little explanation why. When the NFL was dealing with the Colin Kaepernick issue, the NBA leveraged itself on the side of its athletes speaking out, like we support You know if that was it was Colin Kaepernick was an

NBA will support him. Yeah. Which is funny because they actually have a rule in NBA against protesting during the national anthem. But nobody wants to talk about that. So Well, I think the NFL also has rules and you're supposed to conduct yourself in a certain manner during the national anthem. Where they didn't came after the actual rule. Oh, oh, okay. They didn't really have a rule in there. But the NBA had a rule

the whole time. But I mean, it's that that just don't let us get your saying like we always say don't let a the facts get in the way of a good narrative, of course. Oh, also they did that as a way they're trying to jockey now am trying to become America's number one sport. Oh, of course, they want to take it all away. Yeah. And I understand why. And that's why they were so supportive for their athletes speaking out and say look at us. We have support athletes taking

notice and taking stands against injustice. Yeah, those guys over there you understand their conservative asshole. Let me go take a look at LeBrons Twitter feed. I haven't seen anything from him yet. Oh, you you're not missing anything from your gaming. I'm sorry. The future filter when we meet. I know I'll stay in the present for now.

Okay, so, but she said a lot in that on in that last clip. But we're in the next clip we're gonna find out why LeBron and other players are not gonna say anything. In a statement, Adam Silver preached the importance of free speech while attempting to smooth over the league's relationship with China in hopes of moving past all this

altogether. an impossible task really? Why would a league defined by its culture for open dialogue and social justice causes try and minimize and apologize for one of their own speaking out against the human rights atrocities taking place in China? Well, plenty. A lot of money. China is an economic juggernaut for the NBA. 490 million people in China consume the NBA just last season alone. And just like any capitalistic Corporation in America, the NBA has built a massive codependence

on good old China. So that's why you have James Harden and Russell Westbrook praising China. In a recent press conference. We love China with no plan there. That's why you have the NBA apologizing to Chinese fans. And that's why everyone in the league office is freaking out. Hey, Mo, when do we get to these guys are slaves bit of the show dumps? I was just waiting for that. Oh, it's coming. It's coming in a week. We know who they are. We

know who they are. They're owned by Yeah. And like I said, we're gonna get there. And I know, the better term would be pawns, but we're heading in that direction. So as she says, the NFL, I mean, the NBA has never faced a cause where it was impactful to their bottom line. Right? You know, every every stance they took was the same stance. That's with all of this woke stuff. It's all very safe for the people yelling at Sure. Right. But when the rubber meets the road, and but that's, that's

why it's such a shock for their fan base, right? Because they actually think these players are really down for the cause. Of but as we continue in the show, we're gonna see they're not they're down for the bottom line. But let's get the clip three. The NBA does not want to make China mad. They can't afford to. But let's be real who the NBA has made a deal with. And maybe the reason why Daryl Morey felt compelled to hit send on Twitter in the first place. China's government is really bad, they

do not care about human rights. First, there's a million or so Muslims held in concentration camps in China. Second, people who speak out against China's atrocities frequently go missing or get put in jail. Thirdly, Hong Kong, which is a part of China, but is free to operate separately from the Chinese regime is losing their freedom minute by minute faster than agreed upon, which is why Hong Kong is protesting. Firstly,

it's getting ugly. It's pretty clear for the NBA a league that promotes social justice that the bottom line is still the bottom line. Every corporation has their price and this league is no different. She says something interesting. She said Hong Kong is losing its freedoms faster than agreed upon. I thought that was pretty funny. Oh, yeah. We're way ahead of schedule. I'll lose my freedom's Adam. So

we need to dial that back. Alright, sorry. Sorry. Yes, no, no, I'm just yeah, this is just like I said, so the main the main issue with this whole story, I mean, you have your political implications and everything like that. But the main word if we had to summarize in one word of the story is hypocrisy. Yeah. The hypocrisy of the NBA and his players have been so exposed that even the media couldn't protect them, right? Even the

politicians couldn't protect them. I mean, they're out there all they're out there floating on your stand on a law by themselves. Because we've seen politicians from both sides. Be pro America over pro China. We've seen like I said, media, which is funded by its networks. Say, oh, okay, we get a chance to take a jab at these guys that we don't have make money with

right as as well as they always do. So, we're gonna go to speak for yourself, and why LeBron and Kaepernick have yet to address the NBA China controversy. Now for a big story. Let's return to the NBA, which continues to deal with the fallout over Daryl Morey his tweet last week in support of democracy protesters in Hong Kong. The Chinese government and businesses have threatened the MBAs activity in China over the incident. But the NBA is most

prominent voice on political and social justice issue. LeBron James has yet to address it at all. The king silence is undoubtedly related to his relationship with Nike, whose business interest in China are even greater than the NBA, and another of Nike social justice. shoe salesman Colin Kaepernick has yet to offer any comment on the communist regimes attempt to

curb the Free Speech of American citizen, Daryl Morey. My question here is are LeBron and Kaepernick and other athletes pawns in a political game that they don't fully understand. Ooh, key phrase social justice shoe salesman, what a tongue twister. And the answer to that question that he posed is yes, they are pawns. Yep. They're well pay pawns. But they are pawns down

the list. Because when when when I'm when it really comes down to making a stance, and that was the weird thing, because like when LeBron James and all the other players in NBA coaches great arm, Steve Carr and Gregg Popovich know, it's real easy to say, Oh, we stand with Colin Kaepernick in solidarity, you know, to stand up for worse, right? Right. But these guys have went missing. And we're talking about a guy like LeBron James and tweets and Instagram posts about Taco Tuesday, and

Colin Kaepernick. He did this weird trick. I don't know if you caught it or not. When this thing this whole thing started brewing up. He did a a look over there kind of thing. He put he sent out a two page post. Media press release on how he's not still not back in the NBA NFL yet. He got out ahead of this thing, creating a diversion, creating a diversion. And I was like, Oh, I know what that is. Well, here's the main thing. He's not a basketball player.

He's a football player. So what's the common element? Nike. Yeah, exactly. Nike and cash. Yeah. And not only Nike, but tennis shoe companies in general. Because we know where most of these products are made. And they make a lot of money. It's very cheap or cheaply made product. And it's so foreign. Maybe 20 30x. What they make it for is a great business King, I'd say more than 20 30x. But okay, may maybe I'm just being safe with the numbers, but it may be

even more. So but yeah, Colin Kaepernick. He knew people were gonna be coming at him to stick a microphone in his face. Well, if they can find them, right there. They're gonna be tweeting out because he never says anything, but they're gonna be tweeting at him saying, hey, Colin, what's what's your what's your take? Home? Yeah, yeah. So he got out in front of that thing, I think at the apt to be out with assume at the behest of

Nike and say, hey, they're going to cover for you. So let's least release this press release to talk about the NFL and how you're not back in the NFL. But that didn't stick either. Um, so we're going to continue with the Speak for yourself. clip clip two. There's a song from Hamilton. I want to be in the room when it happens right where it happens and to me, you're upon if you not in the room, you may have the greatest exposure, you may

have the greatest celebrity, you may have the loudest voice. But if you're not in the room where the decisions are being made, then ultimately then you're you are upon you're not the Queen, you're not the king. You're not the rook. And with LeBron and Colin Kaepernick, yes. They're their ability to present a certain opinion, is just that it's a certain opinion. And it's connected, as you said, once again, it's it's all about business.

So what people are starting to realize is that LeBron James, or Colin Kaepernick or not Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. Take a nice, take them off the wall. They don't deserve that spot next to Oprah. Right. Where they came to give them that wall. Well, yeah, that's what they've tried to they tried to posture themselves

as you know, leaders. But really, their pawns are, you know, and just to clarify, when you use the word slave, because I know somebody's trigger, meter who went into the raid you're talking about? I don't want to put words in your mouth is that we're all slaves. Oh, we're all slaves and Gitmo nation. Absolutely. Right. Yeah, we're all slaves. I'm just wanting to clarify that kind of no. So my I just probably went bloodshot, but it's listening. Okay. Yeah.

Well, yeah, thank you for that. But yes, I mean, that's the way I see we're all wage slaves of one sort or the other wasteland just fine. If you want to put it where it's like, it's interesting. You say that, because 10 years ago, the no agenda show had these T shirts, which had a barcode on it. And underneath it said, slave, like that was the translation of the barcode. We don't sell those anymore. You can't not now that 10 years ago,

that was interpreted as Oh, I get it. We're all slaves of the system and the barcode. Now, you can't do that. And people get offended. Like, how prints run on the side of his face? Like yes, exactly. Well, but but that, well, there you go. That's the perfect example. And I met Prince several times, I talked to him talk to him about this. And that he was truly enslaved to Warner Brothers. And that's how he felt. And so he I think he used that that term very appropriately at the time.

And in the same way, LeBron James A may brought up the reason why I'm not getting on James Harding as much he's a player for the actual Houston Rockets. The general manager who made the statement, because he hasn't been very political. He's like a fun loving, you know, basketball, just a basketball

guy. So but he's, the one cannot say, Oh, we love China. But they kind of threw him out there to the wolves, like, hey, and by the end, just just as an aside, you know, it's really easy for us to say, China, this China that we're generalizing, we don't really know. I mean, I know a few Chinese people and Chinese Americans are wonderful Americans in general, that I know. And this is really the regime and the state who kind of

run the show. So and when we say, China, the Chinese it's, you know, it's not necessarily the people themselves, but the, the regime. And let me put so okay, I'm glad you brought that up. Because I'm gonna put some context to the now just spoke with one person to the Chinese perspective on this whole thing. Yeah. Which is needed. They don't, they don't say anything politically out

loud. This is totally foreign to them. The reason why I know this is this guy, I worked with he the Chinese guy, and we taught basketball. I mean, I mean, like, literally taught, you know, the ins and outs of teams, moves, transactions, all those things. And I asked him, I was walking down the hall, and I asked him, I said, Hey, what is your take on this whole Chinese NBA thing? He got to a quiet Hush. Because he was like, we don't we don't talk about those things. Yeah. I mean, he was

dead. I mean, we were laughing y'all about, you know, the Lakers, the clippers, you know, just in a casual conversation, but I just wanted to get some no context, right? This is totally foreign for somebody to come out and make a political stance. And by the end, that's why it really hits with a certain magnitude over there that we can't understand.

And by the same token, you mentioned at the beginning of the show, that if you turn off basketball, will the Chinese revolt like we would hear in the States for for you know, if the NFL just shut off? And there are no more games? I'm not so sure I that's the part that I'm fuzzy on is will that mean? It's possible and if there's 490 million people who stood up and say, forget the regime's pressing us and forgetting you, locking people up, we want our MBA be, it would certainly be

enough people. But would the Chinese government stand for it? I don't know. I think it would be so huge. That it'd be something that that can sweep under the rug. Oh, man, if you could overturn a communist regime because of basketball, that would be phenomenal. Well, didn't the basketball negotiate with a communist communist regime? Why yes, I think you're right. I mean, it's not far fetched. Yeah. All right. It's not far

fetched at all, because we don't understand. I don't think I can say football, if you were to say and I want to give just as an anecdotal example, football, gambling was illegal in America. Period. But when they brought about fantasy football, that changed everything, right. And it was like a couple of states that

tried to ban and make fantasy football illegal, right. And they got so much mail the two senators and representatives of that all those two states got so much mail that they had to back down and that really kicked the door down for sports gambling to be accepted. In America isn't in total now. Come if you watch sports shows happen to show us about the lines. I know it's so annoying. Yeah, something but it's an investment. It's an investment to it is what it is.

I understand. Yeah. The the sports betting is its national pastime. Right. But it came out of the causes. Due to fantasy football. Gotcha. Fantasy Football was the Ellen of sports game. All right, Moe. I gotcha. We've offended everybody. All right. Let's go. Oh, no. Oh, let's see. So I want to introduce and small new segment to the show, there's gonna be a probably a reoccurring theme. Not that frequent, because it doesn't happen that often. But

it's called when keeping it real goes wrong. And just to give some background what that is, that is when somebody tells the unmitigated truth, regardless of the fact and really, that's what del Moray did, but we have a host on the same segment from speaking your own for Speak for yourself. He goes total. Keeping it real goes wrong, but let's get the jingle first. You are watching when keeping it real goes wrong. Alright, 7017 Okay, yeah.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm out of order. Yeah, you did just skip one, but I just wanted to let you go. Okay, no, no. So Mr. Curry, this is where I had a beef with you. Because you start you came on my turf, sir. I know. I was sitting back on my Sunday afternoon getting ready for the football game. And I hear this. Nike is in control of basketball, the NBA college basketball High School. Nike is the real person driving this

conversation in this thing with China. If you go back to now I'm connected to politics in 2015. In May of 2015, President Barack Obama went to Nikes headquarters in Portland, Oregon, yes, and announced his defense of the TPP Trans Pacific Partnership. That's a trade deal that was gonna be very favorable for Nike for China, who's the president that came after Obama and walked America away from the TPP Dawn Donald Trump, who is the shoe company that employs LeBron James Colin Kaepernick and these

other athletes that smear Donald Trump is racist. Who are the people constantly criticizing Donald Trump? NBA, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, the NBA answers to Nike Nikes a $40 billion business. The NBA is an $8 billion business. President Obama, the basketball President friendly relationship with the NBA went to Nikes headquarters to announce his defense of the TPP this thing is very simple. This is about money. This is about a president that won't cooperate with what Nike wants

done. Nike is using the NBA and its leverage over the NBA to go after this guy because they disagree with him about his policies as it relates to trade in China. So Jason Whitlock, who I mean, I follow him, and I didn't even see this on fox sports one it was I don't watch a lot of Fox actually. But this came on a show that I watch. And I would say he needs to avoid small aviation hot tubs don't canoe

anywhere in DC. You know, there's a lot of things, you know, be careful, no firearms in the house, you can get to to the head and the gun in your left hand. And there's a lot of money at stake for him to be exposing this. But holy mackerel, even I hadn't made the Obama Nike TPP connection. And when Obama was

there, went back and listened to his speech. He was saying how has great because, you know, finally Vietnam will have, you know, will will be held to account Vietnam is, I mean, it's not a huge competitor, but definitely a competitor to China when it comes to manufacturing. So it was so obvious that that Obama was the DICOM. President. So yeah, and the thing is that Speak for yourself is on Fox.

And that's why I was mentioning earlier in the show is one of the outlets where you can get a real fair assessment on this whole situation, because they don't have any skin in the game. We've seen that yet. Not yet. Not yet. But I'll tell you when you're talking 40 $50 billion a year. And in these industries, maybe more. You know, Jason Whitlock got a call, believe me, he got a call from someone somewhere, probably not from his own network.

And you know what, because Nike is tied in with the NFL as well, bingo. And the NFL has deals with Fox and go, bingo. So you are exactly right. And this is one of the cases of keeping it get real goes wrong. And this is a new segment that I would like to bring to the show you're watching. Keeping it real goes wrong. Just through your jingling again. Yes. So keep it at gear goes wrong. Just let me explain what

that is. That is when you tell the unmitigated truth, regardless of the consequences are you doing, you know, you go with your gut, no matter what the consequence is, and we've seen that with Jason Whitlock. And we see that and this net clip on Jason Whitlock show you are upon I hate to break this news to you. You are I don't play chess you are you are a pawn and you're upon because you are leverageable, you're a leverageable asset. All right.

You're a leverageable asset. I'm a leverageable asset, what is a leveraged leverageable asset. If we are no longer 11 leverageable asset to Fox, we are no longer welcome at Fox. That's the bottom line. If you don't bring that value, if you don't bring a tremendous value for what their causes and their business model is. You're you're not going to be here. The same goes for what we're talking about right now. So when you're talking about,

you know, are these guys pawns for this political game? Of course they are. Mm huh. Political but you know, who, you know, who are not pawns? Adam? We're not pawns? No, no, of course we're not. I'm thinking like, wait a minute, who else is not a pawn besides, yes, we're not pawns, which is why we're doing a podcast Moe and why we're not on Fox, which is why we asked people to donate to the show, as he even brought up the word value. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. And we That's

exactly right. Actually, thank you for mentioning that. That's our system value for value we'll talk about at the end of the show. But yeah, yeah, you got so Yeah, where's the value of these guys now? And how does it stack up? So that is an example I'll keep it in when keeping it real goes wrong. And that was levar Arrington a former football player, I mean, stellar football player. And he called Jason Whitlock upon on his own show. Yeah. So we will not probably be here.

Nope. anymore. Thanks for dropping by. Yeah, it took courage. Yeah, it took it took a lot of courage. So with the help of you, and Jason, we have identified Nike as the main culprit, even behind bigger than the NBA. I mean, the T, the NBA, the TPP that, that he referred to the Trans Pacific Partnership. I never liked because it was kind of the secret of document, you couldn't find the whole thing. There's all these different countries and everyone had their own

agenda. And it seemed like anything that leaked out, only showed it was corporate interest. You know, make sure this cheese can only be from this region. Otherwise it can't be called that cheese. I mean, this kind of dumb stuff like the European Union has. And I just didn't like it offhand. Because it wasn't transparent. And but it was a big deal. I mean, this is the EU still talks about it. This is not something to be overlooked. Oh, just some little, little funky thing. I

mean, this was huge. And yeah, Trump pretty much immediately said no, I'll have none of it. Now Oh, when I heard this clip, my forehead went home. I just watched this Bob just want to have asked a question. Did Trump use the TPP as a leveraging tool to get this deal that he has with China now? Oh, I I would think so. Yeah, why not make sense? Oh, crush this thing where you got to on the back end? You know, you got it, you know, saying give me a better deal.

Yeah. Because the TPP actually hurt China. My understanding? Oh, yeah. That's the whole point. That was the whole the right. Well, no, wait a minute. I'm sorry. Let me take that back. Because we're in Vietnam. Wouldn't Vietnam get all the Chinese business? This would hurt China? That's what yeah, that's what I said. So what you said, okay, yeah, it would hurt. It would hurt China. And so he's like, Hey, I got this thing over here that I can ignore. And, you know,

not like, it's not be a headache to even try to attack it. And it'll kill you guys. But if you give me a better deal, it's a win win for both of us. Oh, oh, yeah, I'm just shut up now. Because I don't want to be from the future. Okay. I'm just listening. I'm just throwing that out there. So okay, so. So we see with Nike, we've already identified Nike, as the culprit behind the NFL and the China. You know, they're the big player, and their biggest player, and Mr. Lebron James.

And they have empowered Mr. LeBron James, to be more than an athlete. Never let someone put you in a box and tell you, this is what you should do. And this is only what you should do. Basketball is a huge thing of mine. But I think my responsibility is so much bigger than that. Who knows who's the next great leader and where they are. My job is to inspire the youth for when they have those dreams, they believe that they can make those dreams

come true. I think it's my responsibility to be more than that. Man, kids hearts, they're gonna break all across the country. So this is a they did a whole campaign with Lebron James. This was a five minute video on YouTube. But I think it was part of a longer video for the campaign and he actually did a world tour. And on that war tour, he stopped in Beijing. And in that five minute video, he spoke with this young Chinese girl. Now, Adam, I know you are multilingual.

Yeah. Okay. You brush up on my Mandarin. Yes. So I want to see if you can guess the translation on this next clip. Oh, so this is an ask Adam. Is that what you're doing here? Yes, yes, I got my jingle Hola. You get too easy. LeBron is the man I heard it right there. You are so close. I knew I couldn't be far off. What was it? Exactly. There's that translation. And this is from the subtitles of this. For most of the fans. He is a real leader. Now go back to

the question I asked you before you have Lebron James. And you should have seen the scores of people following him like he's Jesus Christ Himself. Sure, sure. So if a LeBron James says I stand with Taiwan, woof Yeah, he can't say that. You understand, of course, understood shot. The Chinese understands what's at risk here. Yeah. They understand the power of propaganda and athletes being used for propaganda. But as you

know, part of this show is about history. We've seen this before athletes being used as propaganda, one of them being Mr. Brown bomber himself, Joe Lewis. It was April 1938. The fear of war in Europe was very real when Max Schmeling arrived in New York aboard the German liner the Bremen for his second bout against the World Heavyweight Champion, Joe Lewis. Lewis had already successfully defended

his world title three times. But this fight was billed as the Nazis versus freedom with Joe Lewis carrying nothing less than the fate of the world on his shoulders. And, in fact, the Nazi press was appalled at the extent to which the American press were turtling Schmeling into an assay, it was creating anti German feeling unnecessarily. And this was not I mean, the put it into a context this is not what Hitler wanted.

Even the White House got involved. Franklin D. Roosevelt had maintained a regular correspondence with Max Schmeling in the early 30s and even supported him against the Lithuanian American Jack Sharkey in 1932. But by 1938, all that had changed. 1938 Roosevelt asked Louis to come to the White House, and now like to slap his muscles around and said, We need muscles like this to defeat Nazi Germany. This was in 38, three years,

three and a half years before we entered the war. But the atmosphere was very much that at that, Max Schmeling was was a very terrific boxer. He was not a Nazi. Certainly he was a German and in those days, any German was considered a Nazi. I think Adolf Hitler used Mac's mailing in terms of the political propaganda just as Franklin Roosevelt used my father. These were two strong, powerful men

representing two strong, powerful countries. And obviously the outcome was significant for both countries. Man, this is perfect. Now of course, I'm thinking of the Rocky movies. There's a whole bunch of different things, but I didn't know this about Joe. Yeah, Joe Lewis was I know, I know what he did for hero. He I know he integrate he desegregated golf. I know that that's typical for me to know that and not know about this Nazi thing that that's fantastic.

And not only that, but that's why i Lee caught so much flak. Right. Right. Right, because they wanted to use him because Joe Lewis went around he did. He actually joined the military, the exhibition fights and donated his persons to the to the troops. And get his the kicking ass though Adam. He did all of that. And the RS charged him and ruin him over the money that he went and donated the purses to the military. Really,

because what happened was the checks were made out to him. He takes the size the check over to the military charities, whatever, but he had to pay counted as he's writing. Yeah, but it was money he never had. And it actually ruined him. Yeah. And he's in his life. And then the saw Yeah, so that was just a little note history, but he is not the only one. Do you know of Jesse Owens? Jesse Owens, the runner. Yes. Jesse Owens, the runner. He was also used as a symbol American

symbol. Well, that gets Hitler right. Well, yes, this of course I remember because I was there. Now. He This is very famous. And you know, I think we've all grown up seeing the black and white footage of him just going like a bat out of hell. And this was the the Olympic Games it was at Munich. No. Yeah, it was the Berlin Berlin Berlin Berlin. It was actually in Germany. Yeah. In front of Hitler. That

was why it made so iconic. But I mean him being and look at look at America. Hey, send a black over there, man. You never know it's nobody. Is Hitler let him go. Right. So American wise as they did a comical but factual take on the Jesse Owens versus Hitler. In 1936. The Olympics were in, in Germany in Berlin, Germany. is 36 and the Nazis are running the show, right? And then we sat over Jesse Owens, the fastest man alive. Yeah, he was like a

secret weapon in 36 games. So Jesse goes to the Olympics in 1936 and suits up. Now here's a sidebar. Not all Germans were Nazis. Okay. There was some good yeah, there was just one dude named eight off to not eight off like to eight off as well. Anyway, his name was Adolf Dassler, and he just wanted to he didn't want to kill people and be a Nazi. He just wanted to make shoes. That's what his parents did. His parents made

shoes. He wanted to make shoes. And at night when everybody would go to sleep paid off Dassler him and his brother was in the kitchen. He would cook up a batch of track shoe is before you could like cook up mess. So Adolf Dassler he and his brother, they're in the shoe business and they know they need somebody famous to wear their shoes to get more people to buy. So Adolf Dassler gets into straw and he drives down to Berlin and

he introduces himself Jesse Owens. He's like, hey, Jesse. My name is Adolph and if you would wear my track shoes, I'd be very, very happy. And you don't even have to call me eight off all my good friends call me adi. That's my nickname Adi Adi das law. In fact, if the company goes, We're not going to call it Adi das law. We're gonna like tighten that up. Just call it Adi Das. So yeah, that's where that got started. Oh, man, the minute I heard the name, like, of course, Adidas.

And who knew that was the first shoe endorsement? I guess? It's all about the shoes, baby. Wow, Ma Ma, ma ma. I'm just gonna ring my bell for you, man. Nice. We have the origin of shoe endorsements, going back to 1936. Yes. X, how'd you find out about that? And I knew about Jesse Owens. But I also learned that and I learned while doing this show. And we see China understands. And as the

crisis manager says, China has a very long memory. So they said, Hey, we've seen these guys, Americans use these athletes and know as symbols of freedom of democracy. Are people look at? What was that quote? Little girl? I mean, getting her exact words. Oh, she said leader that's for for most fans. He's a real leader. The key word is real leader. Ooh. Yes. Yes. Yes. So if you had a LeBron James and one thing we haven't talked about this, LeBron James was actually in China playing

basketball when this tweet went out. So in essence, LeBron James could stand up for the live game in China and say, Hey, these guys suck. Your government's no good. Jesus douche. And the people would frown probably do something about it. At least the young ones? Yeah. It were called a real Fisher. Yes. And they're in their control mechanism. They have oh, they're people. So this explains that China is not just retaliating, they may be extremely worried about this stuff.

Yeah. Which is the reason why they were hyper aggressive. Like I said, it's bigger than money is one thing. That's not That's not to say we're not let's not poopoo the money. That's why I said this story has so many levels to there. You have the money you had to political implications you had to propaganda applications. But with all that said, we go back to the hypocrisy. Because there was a was the lady named from Fox.

Nora named this is clear as day the blonde lady, Laura Ingraham, Laura Ingraham. She is in group when I say Ingraham. She had a back and forth with Lebron, prior to this situation, where she told him to shut up and dribble. And it was so much to make made about it. He actually created a whole production, a television show, with the same name called shut up and dribble. I would never have believed that we were ever going to end up in a situation where the woke era of the NBA and potentially the

woke era of sports in general, went to die in China. But I want to start with what happened early this morning in China, the NBA bit the knee, the NBA acquiesced to China, the NBA shut up and dribble. China allowed the preseason game between the Lakers and the 70 Sixers to take place. But the preconditions required that no NBA players, coaches or

executives talk to the media before or after the game. As a result, it is a literal truth that LeBron James who said I am more than a basketball player, LeBron James who said I will not shut up and dribble LeBron James shut up and dribble and took communist inspired cash from China. In exchange for doing so. He didn't just shut up and dribble he shut up and dribbled for a mass murdering totalitarian regime with a million plus people in concentration camps right now.

He shut up and dribble in a country of 1.4 billion where they don't have basic freedoms, where they cannot I'd even get on the internet and be able to read about the Tiananmen Square Massacre because it has been blocked. They can't even get on Twitter because it doesn't exist in their country. And they can't even use a basic form of Google because their minds are censored and controlled by the government around them. LeBron James had no

problem with any of that. China said jump and he asked how high China's said kneel and he asked how low Adam Silver. LeBron James Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, all of them knelt at the altar of the almighty dollar, and sold their souls in exchange for more cash when they already had a lot of cash. I wish that guy wouldn't hold back. He's sugarcoating it so much. So this is Clay Travis. He's a frequent correspondent on fox sports news. But this was all his own personal podcast. And

this is example of the hypocrisy coming back to bite. LeBron James in the ass. With this shut up and dribble. Yep, he's just he's waiting for Wednesday, just waiting to blow over. So this is to be expected because this is chat clay Travers is left or right leaning. You know, so that is to be expected because they're going to politicize or as they should. We you're in business. But he's also catching flack from the liberal side as well. In the documentary I mentioned

before, shut up and dribble. The narrator was one miss Jamil Hill. Oh, from ESPN, the one who hates Trump. Yeah, so yes, I caught a clip of Miss Jamil Hill being interviewed on CNN, bringing the Atlantic's Jamel Hill who just published an op ed arguing, quote, The problem for the NBA is that this isn't just a free speech issue. This is a test to see whether the NBA has the stomach to fight for certain values. When doing so compromises, business, unquote. Jamel an honor to have you here.

Thanks so much. How do you think the NBA and silver are handling this test? Well, I think they're handling it very delicately. And I think the original way that they sort of came out of this thing with that statement where they refer to Houston, General Manager, Daryl Morey his tweet as regrettable, it really raised a lot of eyebrows. I mean, here's a league, that in large part is considered to be among the more progressive, if not the most

progressive of all the major pro sports leagues. And for them to seemingly back away and distance itself from one of its employees, when it's kind of built that reputation. It was very eye opening to a lot of people. And it looked as if the NBA was just content, to kind of kneel to China, so as not to affect business and forgetting, and they forgot about the fact that, you know, they have players and coaches and other league personnel that they've allowed to be vocal on a number

of political topics. So it would be very hypocritical for the NBA to all of a sudden abandon those principles. Wait a minute, does Jamel Hill still work for ESPN? Ie Disney? No, she No. Okay, that's why so she has an axe to grind. Kidding. No kidding. Yeah. Well, she's right. She is right. And it's like, oh, as people say, in common slang, more recent slang keep the same energy. And what that means is if you're going to be outraged on one topic, you can't go into

hiding. And the other topic, right? And we heard from the Lebron James the previous clip, LeBron James himself said, I won't allow myself to be put in a box. Where you have been put been put in the box. The NBA silenced you. Yep, they Sonix you. You can't make him say I'm sure it's like unofficial gag order on NBA players, you know, saying, Oh, no. Make a statement. Yeah, no doubt be quiet. You like you'd like to check Shut up. But who's gonna be the Colin Kaepernick of the NBA? That's

the question. I mean, if you're so if you guys are so you know, willing to stand up for what's right, what you consider what's right, who's gonna stand up for and, and just for a moment there, you know, knowing about this Nike connection. It also is very telling about why the NBA by the NFL put up with Kaepernick at all. Yeah, I'm sure the reaction wasn't because Nike is super woke. That's their brand. That's a big part of what they do. And they

and they clearly were supporting him. So there was probably some conflict there that we didn't even think about at the time. It was a weird conflict because the NFL really didn't make a statement when they signed Colin Kaepernick to their 20 I think was 20 year just do it campaign right exact they didn't really say Anything they didn't say, Oh, we're gonna pool or threatened the pool? No, no, no. The sports leagues are at the behest of Nike. Yep. I mean, let's just be clear about that.

But Jamel Hill she continues on and clip two. I think it's a little more nuanced than that. I mean, Sally is definitely right, that there's a lot of American businesses that do business in China, and they sort of hold their nose as they write and receive checks. The difference is how many of them have the social responsibility brand that the NBA does keep in mind, Jake, that this is the same league who delayed having the all star game in Charlotte because of the

controversial bathroom bill. This is the same league that basically as Gregg Popovich, Steve Kerr, LeBron James, Steph Curry, Kevin Durant, many of their players have been outright critical of the president of the United States. And their entire response has been, hey, let these guys say what they politically believe this is the same league where Commissioner Adam Silver, was dancing at the gay pride parade on a float in New York City. So they have made being socially responsible a

part of their brand. And that's why there's a different expectation for them. Oh, I love that social justice brand, and social responsibility to homeless women write that down social response. Yeah, that's good. Well, you know, yeah, yeah, go ahead. They put their self in our series box here. And they're just seeming disingenuous, their actions that they're taking late, and they won't go all the way in and out. Fire D'Amore is

not making the Chinese fans happy. The fact that they won't let their players say anything, or not making their liberal fans happy. And I'm sure the NBA will wish this will all just go away. And someone will take your saying take their attention away. But no, not as long as like I said a lot as long as politicians can politicize this, and I think you mentioned it in one clip before you had AOC and Ted Cruz

working together. Yes. So I mean, this issue says we're in a weird by now, you know, this, this fits one of my rules perfectly. And it's the Adam curry media boomerang rule. And, and I've observed this, I've witnessed this for, you know, 35 years, when you use the media, to promote something for your own gain financial or otherwise, but when you use it when you're out

there promoting and it's for your own gain. for unexplained reasons of the cosmos, it always comes back at you with equal or stronger force, not necessarily immediately, it could be years down the road, but it's just the nature of media, that if you're using it, it'll turn around and bite you. It's a very fickle lover.

And we see that often cast so so let's see here, Jamil, he'll wrap up her take on on NFL NBA is just surprising considering this is the league where everybody has worn this outspoken label as long as it draws them praise. But the moment it conflicts with business, then everybody wants to get silent. And very quickly if you could, LeBron James is in China right now. We only have a few seconds, but do you think he should keep his mouth shut on this? Or what do you think?

Well, I would be surprised if LeBron said anything because again, they're looking at what happened as a result of this Daryl Morey tweet if you're LeBron James, and you also are an empire into yourself unto yourself. I would not be surprised if he were quiet. Now. What does that mean for somebody who has this entire campaign called more than an athlete? I don't know. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the best thing could could please Could North Korea

shoot off a missile or something? Anything to get me out of this? Anything can turn up the heat on on the impeachment. Yeah, something I mean, and, and what's crazy is we're about to kick off the NBA season here and another week or so. Oh, it's just gonna we're right at that's why they were doing this China China Tour, preseason. Just wish header. So now, before we get into this last segment of the show, why would Daryl Morey do this? He understands the Chinese culture, because they had Yao

Ming bear for many, many years. play for the team. You know, they had, you know, there was some understanding with the Houston Rockets organization and the Chinese culture. Why would he do this? And I don't have an answer for that. I have a theory but I don't have an answer for that. What's your theory? Somebody put them up to wow, why would you Why That's the dumbest thing you could do. Working for the NBA, I mean, like the dummies?

Well, the only thing I can imagine is, you got a call from the President to hook me up. Do something naughty for me, because I'm in the middle of negotiation. Don't worry, I'll make it right. And it could be kind of fun. You know if we can smooth this over just in time for the season to start. And Trump could come in and could save the NBA from their horrible problems with the Chinese. If we think about it,

being all winning, it's an $8 billion. Li Yeah, what's a couple of billion dollars to write for the government to write a check to the NBA to get them out of bed with China? Oh, man, I have no idea. Well, not that much money is not it's really I mean, we've got billions, but it's really not that much money. But ultimately, I mean, I have no problem with the NBA and then making money. I think it's really good that we have some transparency. And people understand that, Oh, hold on a

second. There's a lot, there's a lot deeper than I then I realized, and maybe, maybe people will have a little more clarity before they start worshipping sports heroes. But in general, I think the idea is certainly from my perspective, I'd love to can we get along with China? I mean, yeah, we kill people who we have capital punishment, we do all kinds of stuff, looking from the outside, it could look weird. You know, we we have a brand that may not necessarily reflect our true

values. So it would be great if we could figure out a way to smooth this over with China. So NBA can still continue. Everybody can still make money. But the flip side is you got to cut that shit out NBA in general, just stop with the wokeness. play some ball. Okay, I've got my foil hat on. You got to know. What was happening simultaneous to this how the whole event? Well, we have the Chinese, the China negotiations, if that's what you mean?

Yes. Wouldn't it work? Do you list for a distraction airy tool for both sides, China and America? Say let's talk about the NBA. Because I'm sure the deals that China may or may not say I'm going way, we don't don't look at what we're doing with 5g and possible spy networks being created NBA right now possible. I haven't heard anything. I haven't heard anything. But a lot of people that are pro NBA are saying well, the players

shouldn't say anything. Because, you know, that's a global happening in Hong Kong and you know, China, that's that's way above their, you know, that now they're using the convenient thing that's way above their pay grade. And yeah, they should only talk about topics that they are educated about. Right. So we're gonna we're gonna do this little exercise here, Adam. All right. What were some of the things that the Trump administration and people around Trump have been criticized by the liberals?

Well, I mean, you got to push me in the right direction. That means that memes just name some of the top memes Well, first of all, the President is not presidential. Now, but that's not what you're looking for. You need to you need to prod me along here. I'm not following. Okay. On the border? What was the mean? Oh, is we're putting children in cages 26. These kids must have been very, very naughty. Hi, I'm Chris Chappell. And this is the run list. So you might be wondering,

what did these kids do to get locked inside a cage? Actually, it's not what you think, unless what you're thinking is exactly what I'm about to say in which case, I apologize for doubting you. So these two little girls, one is four and a half and the other is two are what are known as left behind children. Basically, the way it works in China is that many parents have to leave the rural countryside to find work in the cities as migrant workers and so their children are left behind. Some

parents only make it home about two or three times a year. You know how travel in China becomes a nightmare during the Chinese New Year. This is why it's one of the few times a year people actually make it home. Good grief. So these kids are just two of what some estimate to be more than 150 million left behind children in China. That means grandma and grandpa have to take care of them. And frankly, walking kids in a cage is way easier for grants. But besides keeping the kids in one

place so they don't get lost or hurt. It also prevents them from being kidnapped. The run Karen Chang recently did a story about babies for sale in China. And the US just today released a statement saying China's human trafficking is among the worst in the world, right next to Iran and North Korea and Russia. US Representative Christmas said quote, China has become the sex

and labor trafficking capital of the world. So a big motivation for the cage the granny says is to prevent her two little girls from being kidnapped and sold a slave labor or sold into China's booming sex industry. Now telling me that was a podcast and not something on mainstream that I don't think that would ever air would it? Not that was a podcast, okay, well, bingo, Boom shakalaka.

So, and not only, and what we're saying here is this, if you're going to be super woke, and what we're doing is we're going to hold you to your own standard. I don't expect anybody in the NBA that hasn't been outspoken and political, to say anything. That's not what we're saying here. What have you got to be critical? Do you have to keep that same energy? That's what I'm saying. I criticize. If you criticize America, I mean, America, we're putting kids in cages, then you have to

criticize the Chinese for putting kids in cages. And it's pretty much for the same reason. Well, and it may, there may be nuances to both, you know, we know that we're not like really in dog cages at the border. And I'm sure there's nuances to what kind of cages they keep them in. And but yeah, I mean, we're doing meme wars name. Yeah. The meme is here. Yep. This is memes here. Okay, so also on immigration. We've talked about immigrants being second class citizens. Let's go to 28.

Fun, Jiang Mei moved to Beijing with her family more than 10 years ago. But she still feels like a virtual stranger in the city. She now calls home fun holds a rural Hueco, a kind of domestic passport that defines people's rights if they move away from home rights, like where your children can be educated, and three daughters having to move schools four times in the last few years. Chinese citizens should have all the same rights and benefits

equally from public services. So that's the very least we can do to acknowledge the contribution the migrant workforce has made to transforming China in the last 30 years. So there's your dreamers, your DACA kids? Yeah, this is, you know, the more different we we seem, the more alike we are in it. That's that's the whole point of this exercise, sir. To show that the elite no matter where they're at, they'll throw your kids in a cage.

Or treat you like I said, it's a second class citizen. And the weird thing is, these are the people these actual people are Chinese. These are citizens. Yeah. But they just come from raw China. Or if you want to say across the imaginary line. Yeah. I mean, I mean, they're treated as second class citizens, and they're held in that. There's nothing to be fixed there. All right. So now let's go to the second second part is exercise. Mike Pence.

Why were people dancing outside of Mike Pence his house for Adam? Which time when he first got elected, what was he being accused of by a certain community? Well, he's, he's a gay hater. And he is all for conversion therapy. 27, Adam, harassed, detained or sometimes medicated against their well those are just some of the trials facing members of the LGBTQ community in China. And now a new documentary from fusion called the naked truth had China queer is examining what it's like to be gay in

China, and how activists are working for change. Here's a preview. Archie young couldn't believe it when he heard a gay man was being held against his will in a mental hospital. After hearing the shocking recording, made available only to fusion, he dropped everything and took a seven hour train to the small city of Juma Dion, on arrival at young immediately called the police and a lawyer. The lawyer agreed it was extreme and

illegal. So he went inside the hospital asking to see you who you who told the hospital doctor that he was being kept against his will and he wanted to leave. He was discharged that same afternoon, despite the protestations of his wife had been married to her for 10 years pretending to be straight. Wow, there's plenty to stand up against and when you sub take those dollars in NBA players, NBA Live, it's gonna be clarified NBA super woke players that want to make virtue signal.

That's what we're talking to here. You're being the ultimate hypocrite. And that's all I'm saying here. I mean, honestly, maybe you just want to play basketball. Go home cash or cheque and joy live. I believe that's your right But when you thought you're like you said, when you thought that boom arraign Yep. This how it comes back and hit you. And it's, it's, it's so interesting that Fox is doing this. And and I think as you eloquently explained earlier,

they will have to stop. Because the, you know, the dollars flow all the way through all of the shoe companies. And China's involved in all of those because that's mainly where they come from, although it's there's some diversity in where they're manufactured. But I think it's a very short window that we've seen here where you get a Whitlock coming out and some other things that's going to close because I don't think they have it in them. I don't think they have the balls to to to be

in even a little, little, little less hypocritical. It's just it just doesn't fit the model. And the media companies are also tied in, you know, the movie companies, we said, we just pulled back the like a little edge of the rug of really the bigger problem. Like Mike said, the movie companies, the video game companies, even fast food industries, all of these embed with these bad lack of better word communist regimes. Yes. But okay, go ahead.

I was gonna say as hard many of our politicians, the amount of Chinese money thought flowing through Washington for campaign donations is really outrageous. It's not talked about. But it's there. I mean, it's you can look it up. There's so much money flowing through K Street, you know, where the lobbyists are? Mm hmm. And it's America's big business. That's that's what

we've always been. But yeah, this is this is very precarious this is you're putting the big money in the hands of some players who you would and have, man how many times I've heard coaches complain about the players being on Twitter. And it being distraction getting Yeah, actually affecting their playing now could affect the whole the whole organization or multiple organizations. It's this is, I'm glad you did this showed me oh, this is very good. Because no, I mean, and I didn't know about

the 36 Olympics. It puts a whole new take on the I mean, I know the Olympics are one big money making organization. So we should have known better. But wow, this is this is this. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out. Unfortunately, I think the American public just wants to see basketball and they won't care. Well, that's, that's, that's all we want to see. And we don't want to hear I mean, like I said, I'm a sports fan. Don't

mix my politics with my sports. I like politics, for it to watch it. You're saying and I like sports. But I don't want to mix the two together, right? Because sports is a is an escape. It's an inmate's escape form from everyday life. And that's, that's why you get such a push back. Now, we're at the tail end of this exercise. The last thing America and its and its and its administration has been accused of is racism correct or not? Well, it's the first, the middle and the last things. Everything

is racist about this administration. We know that, right. 29 the advertising industry in the United States has been the target of plenty of criticism around a lack of diversity and racial sensitivity both in employee ranks and in advertising. But when it comes to the perception of racial insensitivity, or outright racism, this laundry detergent commercial shot in China is sparking more concern than most

modern commercials. The advertisement which shows a paint spattered black man being transformed by the power of soap into a clean cut Asian man has ignited debate on social media sites and a bow from the country's largest cinema chain,

not just show it after it went viral on English news sites. The Wall Street Journal's Josh chan reported that the ad for Kia OB laundry gel balls has been circulating around the Chinese internet since the end of March. But it wasn't until a China news blog saying highest wrote about it on Thursday that the video began to attract global attention. So is the ad offensive you decide. The ad opens with this black painter with his face and shirt smeared with paint birding with a

Chinese woman as she does her laundry. She beckons him over xx he's going to kiss him and then pops a detergent gel ball into his mouth, shoves him into the washing machine and sits on the cover. He then emerges as the classical prototype of a Chinese man Oh, can we see that video somewhere? Is that is that not available. I saw you too. I'll tweet it out.

Basically, it's but it's a it's a confluence here because we also have kind of like the eating Tide Pods in there, you know, throw the tide pod, the liquid gel ball in his mouth. Yes. The washing machine he comes out as Asian man. That definitely wouldn't fly here in America. That's great. So, and finally, the biggest faux pas and racism if there is one is blackface. Yes. Would you think is that considered racist? Adam? What if someone's walking around in blackface in the United States?

Yeah, definitely. Yeah, sure. I probably everywhere. But yeah, of course, it's. If it's if it's literally blackface, as in the Al Jolson minstrel show, yeah, super racist. Already you be the judge. However, in China itself, there was a rather controversial television program. We do have some of the images to show you. There's been a lot of people talking about this around the world today. And this is the Spring Festival Gala on CCTV. It's an annual variety show to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

And aside from live sporting events, this is actually the most watched program in the world. There may have been as many as 800 million viewers of this last night. And as you can see there from the images, it featured a Chinese actress in blackface made up to look like a black woman. She also has fake buttocks on to give her a very protruding backside. And a lot of people felt that this just really wasn't appropriate in 2018. It's time things. Yeah. Yeah.

That sounds pretty racist. But you know, the Chinese and many Asian cultures are incredibly racist against each other. Chinese hate the Japanese. The A lot of people dislike the Japanese who were very ruthless in the past century, the North Koreans met all Koreans are anti Japanese and that people are racist. This is very true. Well, no, it's but idea I don't think that is appropriate

anymore. In in the 21st century, no, of course not the same as you know, we don't do caricatures of Chinese within the pointy rice hat on and Ching Chong, ha, you know, we don't do that either. Right? Because it's racially insensitive. Yeah, it's the main dish. Yeah. If the super woke, NBA players want to, you know, address anything, be consistent.

If you want to go to you know, if you want to go Come here, you know, and call out things when you go there call out the same identical exact things that are happening there? Well, but they won't really, I was gonna say, my friend do not do not get old waiting for them to do that. And I really don't know where they go from here. I'm sure that they're all still hoping for a

massive destroy distraction by Wednesday. But I got a feeling the president our president is, is may just keep that on the radar if it's advantageous to what he's doing. If he needs a distraction. Yeah, or negotiate because it's gonna become cyclical, because it's kind of like, Oh, yeah. What about the NBA over there? You know, it's, this is what you do. This is what you do. And like I say, issues are brought up. It's a fascinating story, a fascinating

story, because it has so many layers. And as we see, as history repeats itself, and no matter what the group of people that is, the lead artists and they take advantage of the lower classes the same way. I think that's the you know, the synopsis of the show. Well, and then I will add to that the power is in our hands, if people really care and if they really find that the

hypocrisy should not stand. There's many ways for consumers to change the attitudes of companies and governments, in fact, but it has to be genuine and people really have to stand up and people have to walk away from products and services that they enjoy and I am not so convinced that that's anything. Anyone who loves basketball or any other sport really wants to

do. I think they would like this to go away. But I think it's very important for children, Chinese American or otherwise, who idolize these players to be to hopefully educate And subsequently aware that these may be false prophets and who they're really worshipping is on a green piece of paper. Yes, is that exactly right? That's exactly right. So I always tell people vote with your dollars if you don't support something

don't spend your money your time with it. And that's a real that's a real way you could impact things yeah meanwhile go spurs. Hey Moe, thank you so much, man. Another great Moe Factz with Adam curry is in the can. And as I always say, pay attention to everything and the truth will reveal itself. Remember, we operate under value for value please go to MoeFund.com mo e fund me.com. And we'll talk to you next Monday, everybody. Bye bye.