On one hand, the left demands divestment on any entity that has interests in traditional apartheid governments while others get a pass. Sports is a prime example.

How do professional sports teams get the money to pay their athletes outrageous contracts? The main source is multi-billion dollar broadcast deals where television networks pay for the rights to air each team’s games. The United States is a big market but pales compared to what a country with a population like China lures, so care is taken not to offend a partner of that size.

NBA China and BesTV, a member of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group, announced on Sunday that they are expanding their partnership to deliver extensive NBA games and programming to fans in China. The NBA’s partnership with the Shanghai Media Group (SMG), the parent company of the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Group, dates back to the 1996-97 NBA season.

As the Official Multimedia Partner of the NBA in China, BesTV and SMG’s extensive media platforms will offer nearly 1,300 NBA games to viewers each year.
— China Daily, 10/10/16

Geopolitics can make business relationships contentious and one example is the documented slave labor in China, specifically of the Uyghurs, who are forced to produce goods for Abercrombie & Fitch, Amazon, GAP, H&M, Jack & Jones, Sharp, Siemens, Skechers, ASUS, Apple, Samsung, Huawei, BMW, Volkswagen, Sony, Polo Ralph Lauren, Puma, Victoria’s Secret, Vivo, Fila, Adidas, Puma, Huawei, Lenovo, and Nike (specifically) NBA merchandise that personally and financially benefits players. Many high-profile players like Los Angeles Lakers LeBron James will interject himself into American politics on race issues while defending human rights abusers as to not negatively affect his wallet.

Yes, we all do have freedom of speech. But at times, there are ramifications for the negative that can happen when you’re not thinking about others and you’re only thinking about yourself. So many people could have been harmed — not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually. Just be careful about what we tweet, what we say and what we do. Yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too.
— LeBron James, 10/15/19

Other liberals benefiting from financial arrangements with the Chinese communists have chosen to look the other way in silence. One decided to speak out and it didn’t go well. During a recent “All-in-Podcast episode, billionaire investor Chamath Palihapitiya spoke with fellow liberals and it didn’t go well. Most networks reporting on his honest assessment of the Uyghur plight only played a short clip of his offending comments.

It was a striking comment for someone who excoriated his fellow venture capitalists back in 2017 for being a bunch of “well-intentioned, soulless cowards.” Palihapitiya soon after released statements calling for “nuanced discussion” and saying that the clip was taken “out of context.”
— New York Magazine, 1/18/22

Here’s the full segment, in context….

While it’s commendable that Palihapitiya believes we should take care of Americans before we save the world, he conveniently failed to mention that almost everything the Democrat left has done to “help” blacks, in particular, has only made things much worse.

Needless to say, the blowback from his comments were swift.

In a statement released Monday, the Golden State Warriors said, “Mr. Palihapitiya does not speak on behalf of our franchise, and his views certainly don’t reflect those of our organization.” Mr. Palihapitiya is a limited investor who has no day-to-day operating functions with the team, it added.

His comments on the podcast drew condemnation on Twitter.

Boston Celtics center Enes Kanter Freedom wrote, “When @NBA says we stand for justice, don’t forget there are those who sell their soul for money & business like @chamath the owner of @warriors.”

 Mr. Palihapitiya is no minor player with a loose cannon of a mouth.

A Sri Lankan immigrant to Canada whose family got by on welfare payments when he was a child, Mr. Palihapitiya graduated from the University of Waterloo and worked at Bank of Montreal before moving to the U.S. during the dot-com era. He joined Facebook in 2007 to help grow its user base after stints at a venture-capital firm and America Online. He left Facebook in 2011 after he said Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg denied his request to start a cellphone business, and later emerged as a critic of his former employer.
— Wall Street Journal, 1/18/22

Virgin Galactic distanced itself Tuesday from Chamath Palihapitiya, the chairman of its board of directors, after he declared on a podcast that “nobody cares” about China’s human rights abuses toward Uyghurs.
— New York Post, 1/18/22

The western world has been very kind and generous to Chamath Palihapitiya and his family. He’s been able to achieve and live a very comfortable life, thanks to nations that cared enough about the plight of those in shithole countries to allow his family to flee genuine poverty.

His callous indifference to those less blessed is so… progressive.

During a segment aired on the BBC, the video creator appears to have come down with a case of they-all-look-alike-itis as footage of LeBron James was inserted with footage of Bryant. Even though there were slight hints of a difference between the players, the error wasn’t caught and allowed to air.

…

A BBC spokesman said: ‘In tonight’s coverage of the death of Kobe Bryant on BBC News at Ten we mistakenly used pictures of LeBron James in one section of the report.

‘We apologise for this human error which fell below our usual standards on the programme.’
— Daily Mail, 1/26/20

Human error? No shit. But let’s talk about the BBC’s “usual standards”.

Both players are black. Whew, at least they got that right.

Despite the perception in the BBC production wing and the possible politically correct practice of not dwelling on appearances, they don’t look alike.

Another slight hint as to the difference between the two players, Bryant was #24 and not #23.

The ability to read and comprehend also appears to be an issue here as this was to be a clip about Kobe Bryant, with the name Bryant on the back of his jersey, spelled B-R-Y-A-N-T, not J-A-M-E-S.

Obviously whomever was tasked with putting the package together obviously knew nothing about American basketball as there would be zero confusion about the players. This should have been caught by multiple eyes before airing and yet it got by them all. Was this a case of ignorant women or context-challenged millennials or those who could care less about sports being tasked to create a very short memoriam of one of the greatest players in Los Angeles Lakers history, if not the National Basketball Association?

But this just illustrated (again) what’s wrong with today’s media; a profession where writing about that which they don’t know has its perils and we see the results almost every day.

First off, the event in question happened in the Massachusetts armpit of Springfield where the Basketball Hall of Fame is located; not in Boston during the Celtics game. And the offender wasn’t the preferred white male, so all it would take is an adoring media to play the public victim card.

Before he and the Los Angeles Lakers took on the rival Celtics in Boston on Monday night, LeBron James attended his son Bronny’s game with Sierra Canyon at the Hoophall Classic in Springfield. Unfortunately, the game came with a bit of a blemish for the James family.

In the second half of action, the game had to be briefly stopped as a fan threw something at James Jr. as he was standing on the sideline waiting to inbound the ball. The object hit Bronny in the back, at which time the referee immediately stopped play and called for a nearby police officer to try and identify the perpetrator. The fan was not removed from the game, and no further incidents occurred, per ESPN.
— CBS Sports, 1/21/20

Yes, that sounded pretty bad as that “something” could have been anything meant to cause some kind of bodily harm, one could only imagine some unruly drunk committing this ejectable action, and LeBron responded as expected.

LeBron shares supportive message with Bronny following incident with hater at Sierra Canyon game
LeBron James Says ‘Hating Has No Age-Limits’ After Fan Throws Object at His Son During Game
LeBron James Rips Young Fan For Throwing Object At His Son In Game
LeBron James Stands Up For His Son After A Fan Throws Something At Bronny During A Game
LeBron ‘mad’ after debris hits son during game

Okay….

No one is condoning unruly activity at a sporting event, or anywhere for that matter, aimed at an athlete or anyone, but even after the specifics of the incident emerged, LeBron had to keep the drama going.

Sierra Canyon’s game on Monday at the Hoophall Classic was briefly stopped after someone in the crowd threw a piece of debris in the direction of LeBron James Jr.

I didn’t see it or hear it, actually. While I was on the opposite side of the floor, I did see the referee stop the game or stop the inbound, and the cop came up there,” he said. “I didn’t even know what happened until the video evidence showed me when I got here.

It’s just disrespectful, and it was a little kid too. I don’t know how old that little kid was, so I don’t know if he learned that on his own or if he learned it at home. Whatever the case may be, it’s disrespectful. I wonder how old that kid is, if he is the age around Bronny’s age [15] or [James’ son] Bryce’s age [12]. I’d like to see them try that while they’re paying attention.
— ESPN, 1/20/20

Yeah, like the #JamesGang would take matters into their own hands on this offender who fessed up and apologized; an offender quite unexpected….

If an average father’s son was hit by a thrown orange peel by a much younger kid, chances are a federal case wouldn’t have been made of it. It’s clear by his own Tweet that LeBron James was made privy to the details regarding the “something” thrown at his son and the make of the perpetrator but still had to blow this up to “hate” status. The problem is none of the potential elements could fit that criteria.

Pity the poor law enforcement officer that would bring a kid before a judge, charged with misdemeanor orange peel assault.

Details never seem to hinder attention-starved victim wannabes like LeBron.

That is, until the dirty little secret regarding the true level of their intellects is put out for all the world to see.

Yes, an occasional Tweet has to be deleted and off-the-cuff comment apologized-for but the personal fallout is minimal thanks to publicists and an ass kissing-for-access media.

I became an American citizen recently, and that night, we watched the Republican debate and I thought, ‘This was a terrible mistake. What have I done?
— Emily Blunt, Hollywood Reporter, 9/14/15

Many people (as a result) have decided not to purchase their music, watch their television programs, go to the theater and pay lavish amounts to see their movies and yet they still won’t stop hurling political and/or personal insults on social media or friendly media platforms leaving millions asking why.

The answer is quite simple, muthafukkah.

Most Americans go to work and their next paycheck depends on the quality of work they do. However, this 1.01 of employment etiquette doesn’t apply to celebrities and professional athletes and if you think about it, it’s really not all that fair.

Unlike most of us, they get paid upfront for services yet to be rendered. How many athletes get monstrous contracts after a good season just to go into a rude slump after the signing? Many movie stars are paid millions to appear on screen just to see the box office numbers for a particular production bottom feed. Once they get paid to perform, the results are what they are and they could care less. How the general public perceives of them is fairly irrelevant unless if affects a team or a television series where ratings determine the livelihoods of costars and crew. Then, you may hear an apology after a political, racial, or sexist insult is hurled.

No. I don’t feel I have to edit what I say – the things that make me angry are the things that make everyone angry. Everyone has an issue with Trump – every sane person anyway.
— Daisy Ridley, The Guardian, 12/7/19

So, we’ll continue to see liberal celebrities and athletes insult Republicans and/or conservatives on talk shows, in magazine interviews, and especially on social media. Their bank accounts are healthy and a couple bad Tweets aren’t going to limit what’s on their dinner table or put a mortgage payment in peril.

They’ll smile when we see them in commercials for products we may lose interest in purchasing in the future. They’ll come off as very nice people when they appear at special events but remember, they have one advantage millions of Americans don’t: they can hate our guts, say as much, and it won’t hurt them because they’ll continue to get offers and paychecks from people who think just like them.

Maybe the only thing that could possibly send a message to these self-important celebrities is the one word that insults them the most: when responding to one of their outbursts, respond with “Who”?

See Lib Hate Excused for many examples of celebrity public disdain for their consumers.

After the whole NFL kneeling thing started, Golden State Warrior Stephen Curry announced he and his championship team didn’t want to go to that traditional White House visit, Trump rescinded the invitation and LeBron decided to interject himself into the controversy with his usual class and gravitas.

Shortly after receiving some social media blowback that would clearly damage such an inflated ego, we had an “incident”.

This doesn’t reflect well on the LAPD, that is, IF the vandalism reported actually happened and was not a narcissistic attempt to interject sympathy to diffuse the negative response after James’ disrespectful interjection into a discussion that didn’t involve him.

This whole thing stunk then and the fact that no one’s be caught for committing such an abhorrent crime on one of Los Angeles’ richest and famous part-time residents is curious at best.

Police are still investigating the graffiti incident and are examining security camera footage in an attempt to identify the perpetrator.
— CNN, 5/31/18

Think about this: someone spray paints graffiti on the side of your business. Most people would call the police, have them view the video surveillance evidence and let them do their police work thing. Someone working for King James took it upon himself to spray paint over the “racial slur” graffiti BEFORE the police arrived.

Who does that?

LeBron’s pre-2017 NBA Final press conference statement was most illuminating.

If this is to shed a light and, uh, continue to keep the conversation going on my behalf, then… then I’m okay with it.
— LeBron James, 5/31/17

Not only was he preparing to put the Cleveland Cavaliers on his shoulders in an attempt to win an NBA title but he was also putting the topic of racism in America on his “behalf” as well.

In both cases, he lost.

Are Negros Closer to Apes Than to Humans?
Study Confirms Unconscious Linking of Blacks with Apes
Comparing Black People to Apes: It’s Worse Than You Thought
Enough with stereotyping black people as monkeys!
Comparing Black People To Monkeys Has A Long, Dark Simian History
Google Censors Gorillas Rather Than Risk Them Being Mislabeled As Black People
H&M Apologizes for ‘Monkey’ Image Featuring Black Child
Outrage as museum depicts African people next to animals including gorillas and baboons in ‘racist’ exhibition
Gorilla Statue Removed After Complaints It Was ‘Racially Insensitive’

Again, thanks to some of the more prominent in society, it’s hard to lament the degraded image of black men when black men are the ones doing the self-degradation. Over the last few years, black athletes are repeatedly acting out in ways that back in the day would be considered head shakers, to say the least.

One of the latest episodes occurred during the Boston Celtics, Cleveland Cavaliers 2018 Eastern Conference Final Game 6 where LeBron James made a late three point shot and acted in a manner that would have left a previous generation of proud black people in sheer disgust. And given how many times that particular “dagger” and reaction was replayed, the politically-correct, progressive sanctimonious at ESPN appeared to really enjoy one of our darker moments.

Despite the traditional racist treatment by Democrats, black people are the most imitated and culturally appropriated. Jazz, the blues, funk music, language has been culturally appropriated and screaming like a wild animal is now something many non-blacks are doing with regularity.

They will NEVER be compared to apes. Wonder why that is…?

Basketball.

Given my background, I look at everything we see on television or video as something someone had to initially conceive and another to approve. In the case of this ad, not sure I think much of either.

Nike and the many entities that perpetuate the black Basketball Jones give off that racist impression that the sport is one of the two major industries we gravitate to as THE way out of poverty. The other being gangsta’ rap and/or what’s now called “R&B”, but that’s a topic for another post.

However, numbers are something never addressed by those who continue their soft bigotry of low expectations.

According to the NCAA, as of 2016 there were over 547 thousand children playing basketball at the high school level, of that only over 18,000 made it to the higher-tier college level, of that only four thousand were eligible for the NBA draft, and of that only 44 were drafted by a team. In simpler words, the chance of a high school student making to the professional level is 0.00008052296 and the odds probably haven’t improved noticeably since.

Marketing sneakers to the millions who play is smart. Promoting what amounts to a pipe dream is another.

Then again, it appears Nike and the left don’t think blacks have potential for much else and Apple isn’t any better.

We dance for their entertainment.

See a pattern?

Cleveland Cavaliers’ owner Dan Gilbert might have been hoping his star player’s Twitter feud with the President of the United States would die down before the start of the National Basketball Association season. It didn’t turn out that way.

LeBron: No one should use sports to divide people

While he’d NEVER see it that way, LeBron James used “sports to divide people” as he directed some choice sentiments to people in Ohio who voted for Donald Trump.

NFL season was underway when all of the mass-kneeling began so we’ll have to wait a bit to see what stadiums will look like as early as Thursday night as well as Sunday and Monday. LeBron James’ comments will have time to percolate with Trump fans as well before Cleveland’s season home opener with the Boston Celtics on October 17…

… a lot of time to find other things to do with that ticket money.