11: Alley-Oop

00:06 Mo Facts with Adam Curry for October 14th, 2019. This is episode number 11 Hey Mo! How you doing? I'm doing pretty good Adam how about yourself Dad's doing real good You know I went to a No Agenda meetup here in Austin last Thursday and a lot of people complimented the show and wanted to make sure that you heard that People are really loving it I'm glad to hear that. And on my YouTube channel, I get a lot of feedback that people are loving the podcast as well that are non-Noel Jindal listeners As of right now, I'm trying to convert them but... It's okay. We bring them in with MoFax 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 listen to it if you got any value from it please return that and we'd like to do that at moefundme.com

01:04 Keep the show going and just show the value that you got from it. It's a way for us to measure how good we're doing, so... And I'll remind you at the end of this show as well Now, you already told me what's gonna 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 sent me notes saying oh Monday will do this! I'm like okay, I'm just gonna kick back relax. You know, then you put me to work like doing clips and stuff. It's like seriously Moe we got to talk about the distribution of workload here And your stepping on my beats man. Hey look Fox Sports 1 is my beat okay so... What can I tell ya? When i'm just chilling I watch a little FS1 check out my man Jason. Ya know what's happening. I'm up to speed

01:57 Yeah, I was when i was listening to the show yesterday. I was like man he's all over my clips so um So for the for the people that is not in the know and are not old school hip-hop fans you might Not might might not have a hint by now That we're talking about the nba and china And um the going on's between, between the two. So let's we're clip heavy today so I want to jump right in and let's just get a clip one for some background. 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 Mori tweeted support for those protesters Stephanie Whitfield shows us how one little tweet can have huge consequences

02:55 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 while 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

03:37 Well, tonight Darryl 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 it's 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 its GM his job

04:18 Stephanie Whitfield KHOU 11 News. Okay, so 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 It has been since like the early 1900s when the YMCA went over really and yeah, and I hate us lost that clip in the shuffle But yeah it means 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-un fashion fascination with it as well. Of course North Korea being closely allied to China Yes so all this

05:19 You're saying is coming together and as they say y'all 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 hand-picked what markets he could go to it was either Houston It had to be one with a large Asian population. Either had to be Houston New York and I believe Like Golden State which isn't San Francisco sure Which which is crazy cause a draft is supposed to be randomized. You know, it's a random process Wait a minute, but you're telling me there's funny stuff going on there? I'm shocked Moe Something sports hmm okay, well what we can see here with when big money's involved The NBA is you know

06:12 It it looks at its interest first. It's a business of course, it said it's a business kind Of covering as some kind of philanthropic or 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 will get that later so now we have a crisis of Delmoree of the Houston right and what was weird that it came from a the franchise which is most known to be aligned with the Chinese market. So it was weird for him to tweet that out and I'm doing some more digging why that happened or where it came from, but let's get into managing the crisis. The values of the league support individuals educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them which is

07:10 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 we have to say what makes America great its not winning its leadership and I think that we fail to show leadership here And what they've responded with that I call it beached on a sludge bank corporate puff statement It's something really vacuous and lacks the intent and meaning that it should have I'd like to point out this is from a business channel CNBC, which is interesting by itself. That means there's something with business but also who's the British guy? What does he do in there? He has a crisis manager, a professional crisis manager. Does he work for Hill and Knowlton or one of these outfits? I'm not sure where he worked from. I didn't get that information but people came in just to speak on how the NBA should handle the crisis and let me make something else clear here

08:09 There's certain networks that are online with the NBA due to the television deals. Right, of course 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 have NBA deals 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. Ah, 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 soul that I couldn't show this on the graphic and um Because we do audio but they showed a map of China

09:04 after this happened with the South China Sea on the map as part of China. Was that during a newscast? That was on ESPN you said which is yes, oh ESPN where they had like You know They knew how to have the big screen behind them and have like they showed uh The map of China sure and some guy captured it on YouTube. That's great It was like a little dotted line in the sea Oh my good highlighting yeah, that's so yeah, that's part of the the nine dash line I think we've talked about what I think it was on no agenda um that the Chinese I was like

09:39 In the 60s, I think there was this map and it 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 um...that they would show that and of course both ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney now Yes, yes. So they're all like I said they're all in bed with uh with the NBA as they shoot his business so but they have been very careful how they spoke about it where is you Like you said we both listen to Fox Fox Sports news. That's one of the time economy

10:17 Yeah, they've been kind of like loose with how they've been critiquing the NBA. But let's continue to listen to The Crisis Manager. What should the NBA do now? Well this is a crisis management situation and what they have done so far has behaved in what the wrong way is of crisis, which is kind of to deny, to delay, to deflect a situation. So they've denied it's their point of view. They've deflected on Darrell in terms of making that statement. Really what they need do now is respond boldly but that's going to be very difficult because they come out at the gate rather shy and rather shame. But how can they respond boldly to the US audience that is upset without further upsetting the Chinese? Well this is gonna be dilemma and I think you know this is a marketing dilemma

10:59 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 problem big problem. Yeah, let me send you another invoice He's advertising his skill to talk for 60 seconds without saying anything. That's what a crisis manager does. Bingo! So I think he's kind of advertising like, hey if you really want to see the details, enter your credit card number... Sign up register yeah don't worry you won't be charged for the first month right? Right so i'm glad you caught that oh that he's not really saying anything which

11:39 Is that him displaying his skill set? I think so. And I think you picked up on it as well. So let's listen to the crisis manager in his final take. We've mentioned that the Rockets are sort of China's home team because of Yao Ming, who is now in charge of the China Basketball Association. Could they Can they kind of wait this out knowing 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 season. Think about how many times we come on set, and talk about some crazy thing and then a week later no one remembers it usually here in the United States usually on social media

12:17 But they'll remember in China. Yeah, well China has a long memory and 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 gonna remember this potentially That's what they have to hope on that's gonna have to be their strategy that cannot be the strategy in China Well, that's not gonna work that strategy because Mo Faxe 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. This is a huge political football and all I found this fascinating because of 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 been in a word war with the NBA.

13:06 And it's players. So you have all these different players in this game, for lack of saying no pun intended that are kind of They're all aligned in different ways and they're all against each other in other ways. What is most interesting to me, because obviously what's happening here is China said okay we're not going to broadcast the games but really there's a huge deal behind that I mean this broadcast rights do they... Is that something they pay up front? Do they pay monthly how does it work with

12:17 But they'll remember in China. Yeah, well China has a long memory and 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 gonna remember this potentially That's what they have to hope on that's gonna have to be their strategy that cannot be the strategy in China Well, that's not gonna work that strategy because Mo Faxe 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. This is a huge political football and all I found this fascinating because of 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 been in a word war with the NBA.

13:06 And it's players. So you have all these different players in this game, for lack of saying no pun intended that are kind of They're all aligned in different ways and they're all against each other in other ways. What is most interesting to me, because obviously what's happening here is China said okay we're not going to broadcast the games but really there's a huge deal behind that I mean this broadcast rights do they... Is that something they pay up front? Do they pay monthly how does it work with

13:42 the merchandising, where they just shut down shoe production. I mean there's all this stuff that is up in the air and but we really don't...I mean 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 you know five times maybe ten times what they are in the US and I can see where in a certain term that's going to hurt them sure with ad rates and whatever Where here's the thing, the Chinese are in a difficult spot too because what they're doing now is 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 their people... Imagine if you say you're going to shut football off in America. It's like the equivalent. You will have so much outcry

14:34 Um, 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 this thing fast because if it and we're going to see later why end up show a, that's just a teaser, but we're going to see later why in the show, but But um, I mean my mind is already racing Moe. I can think of so many different things that are going on with the Chinese. 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

15:10 It's a lot of things. It's not just one thing, it's a lot of things and like I said is 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 this very poorly unless listen him listen to example that As some 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 held values of the MBA are to support freedom of expression

16:04 and certainly freedom of expression by members of the NBA community. And in this case, Darryl Morey as the general manager at Houston Rockets enjoys that right as one of our employees What I also try to suggest is that there are consequences from that exercise of his freedom of speech and we will have to live with those consequences I love the, hey you didn't know- got lost in translation dumb Chinese. You missed something before that! Oh what was that?

16:43 He says, I thought we were somewhat straightforward. How are you so much straight forward? Good point good catch. Kind of truthful Come on. Right. My best guy. I was kind of 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 never heard that So because what he's doing is You have China on one side that when these kind of things happen, Chinese want blood. And what I mean by it is they want somebody fired. They wanna see heads roll and they wanna see somebody getting gotten rid off. But if he does that it signals to the NBA has a world contingency in their fan base.

17:37 Just because of what the NBA represents or have has tried to represent. So if he goes and fires a guy over freedom of speech, then he loses that market right? And he's been very unsuccessful with it. I think he needs to call the crisis manager for this. Especially, you know...I mean, uh, 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 like I don't want to do business with him? It looked like he was right out of The Addams Family. Yeah, he does. He gives you that vibe.

18:21 So now we have, like I said before. We have some super woke coaches in the NBA one being Steve Kerr and other one being Greg Popovich. And so Greg Popovich tried to do this weird parlor trick and i'm not gonna say anything but see if you can catch it. Freedom of speech, It felt great again He's been a heck of a leader in that respect and 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 wise. It wasn't easy for him to say he said that in environment

19:16 fraught with possible economic peril, but he sided with the principles that we all hold dearly. Or most of us did until the last three years." Well this is interesting what I got from that is it's Trump's fault! Whatever act? Trump's fault man just three years of that psychopath Whenever something goes wrong, blame Trump. Blame Trump! Past three years have been really difficult and challenging for free speech. Right right right. So he... Popowich is manager of which team?

20:01 Popovich is the coach. He's the coach! We've determined that this is the white men can't jump edition of Mo Facts with Adam Curry so I need help. If you're gonna be on the sports beat, I gotta beef up your chops. All right well... That's why coaches are referred to as coaches Adam. I'm just pulling your leg. But yeah, he's the coach of the Spurs San Antonio Spurs right down the road okay? Yeah, yes, I should have known so but he's also he's been pro me anti he's been asked how Trump the whole time Trump has been in office and he's being pro woke a woke agenda which The strange thing is and I want to say this right off the bat

20:57 Believe these coaches have to appear to be woke because Greg Popovich came from the military background. Mm-hmm Let me be clear on that Actually military intelligence, I believe in the Air Force if I'm not mistaken okay, so with that says him and Steve Kerr are coaches of two of the biggest franchises in the NBA and to Recruit woke a woke players. You have to appear to be awoke coach Because Greg Popovich was originally known as being one that most stringent system coaches, you know there is but he's done this weird Pivot in the last few years saying last several years too, you know Sam being very liberal

21:50 What that says, let's listen to more of Greg Popovich. So I'm thrilled with what he said because 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 in the last three years. What kind of country do 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

22:25 rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and there are many incidents like that where it's leadership and courage mean nothing if it is all about personal aggrandizement so I was thrilled 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 It's just horrible and you know it's been so hard and where were real leaders bullcrap Did you catch the one thing in there? did you catch tha- I didn't ring my bell too much cuz it was some stuff I could have rang on

23:09 It's one name he brought up in there. Did you catch it? Was it the beginning? Maybe in the middle. Why don't I play it again and people can play along at home. So, I'm thrilled with what he said because 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 do 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

23:52 rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of Mr. Khashoggi." Oh yeah, yeah! 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 that 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 measured and calculated. I look at, and that's maybe just how i look at things he was throwing red meat to the media oh yeah hey you gonna let...he didn't really talk up when he killed one of you guys with a press this is kind right? And this is yeah it's a good point and part..and actually that did work for a little bit there blipped I remember just in the past week or so had this blip of a little bit of Khashoggi news referring to it

24:47 But, you know the consultant the British Consultant on CNBC he was kind of saying what he's doing is like we need a diversion so everyone forgets this by Wednesday So this guy's like yeah Khashoggi try that out. You're right red meats. Yeah good analysis Yeah to the media. He wanted the media to go soft on 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 gonna come back for you 10 times worse and with that said let me just we've known Trump has been in his bag

25:31 for the last so week and a half or so with you saying just with How he's been coming at people. I mean, he's been shifty shift Nervous Nancy In sports what they call lathering up? He's lathering upright That's when you get a good sweat going and to go on to 2020 And so with that said, he's ready for Greg Popovich. And let's listen to him. Is it 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 even answering the question. He couldn't answer the question. It was shaking. Oh, oh, I don't know. I don't know. He didn't know how to answer the question. And yet he'll talk about the United States very badly

26:26 I watched Popovich, sort of the same thing but he didn't look quite as scared actually. But they talk 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 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. The NBAs, they know what they're doing but I watched the way that like Kerr, 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

27:03 It's like they don't respect it. I said, what a difference isn't sad? It's very sad to me. It's very sad Oh man classic Classic call him unpatriotic it works every time He kicked the ball right back into on their side of the field Yep and he got he dodged dodged 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 Mnuchin the Secretary of Treasury say well this is just like buying a building which was interesting for him to say that Trump being a builder

27:48 He said, you know now we got everything. We've got the notes are going to write it down and you have got a hash some stuff out but basically no tariff increase as scheduled and there would be I'm not so happy with it but technology transfer agreements regarding 5G and then also as Trump calls, Steve Pichenik calls it Huawei but I think the big thing here is farmers and the Chinese apparently already buying instead of the eight billion dollars worth of goods it'll go up to 40 they say between forty and fifty so just a forty. And then the financial integration of Goldman Sachs JP Morgan and the credit American Express and Visa

28:33 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 Trump may use the NBA as some kind of chip in this bargaining for this phase or for Phase 2 It wouldn't surprise me he's certainly teeing up that way Yeah, he is and he made a political decision in two ways. In the small one minute clip that he put down there One The press was trying to get a sound bite of him coming at China He was like that's not gonna happen That's between the NBA and China which

29:14 For Trump, I know that was very calculated because if he had nothing to lose he would have let go on how you really felt. But he knew he had a deal brewing in the background and two if you notice okay? I didn't get the Steve Kerr clip because one there was nothing really there and two it was very audible because that he was speaking very timid and low and kind of like that so it's very unclipable but Greg Popovich was very vocal against Trump Yeah, um where Steve Kerr wasn't but Trump chose to go after Steve Kerr that was a political decision Okay in my opinion and just remind me Kerr is coach for

30:05 He, Golden State Warriors. Ah okay I gotcha my brother from another mother out there Steph right? Right yeah he's your brothers coach which is located where California sure San Antonio is located in Texas mm-hmm that's red and blue right there Yeah, so he said let me go after the low-hanging fruit over here in California. Yeah And I don't wanna you know upset the Albuquerque of the San Antonio fans right? That's why says a lot of it's a lot of moving pieces In this whole story and that's why I just fascinated me and it made a very easy pick for me What what this topic was gonna be about today So with that said

30:51 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, just working in the background. And then doing my research, it was not necessary to the story but it was funny what I found a former national security officer exposed. 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? No, I'm in Washington. Okay. I do apologize. I'm sorry mistaken my fault my fault Right National Security officer official well

31:47 allegedly, maybe in Hong Kong? Yeah let me address what we're doing or have done with Hong Kong and I say this with some certainty. So you know we're obviously working on a trade deal with the China. Hong Kong is effectively owned and in a two- system 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 or on China so Beijing keep the pressure on them during these negotiations which has been you know I mean it's not small stuff that Trump has been doing

32:34 I'm 99% convinced that our own forces, or just say the civilians in the State Department i.e spooks etc they're over in Hong Kong and they're riling them up and keeping them going and giving him US flags and playing the U.S national anthem and getting guys to say stuff like this China is asshole! I mean it's brilliant brilliant to keep the pressure up but I think its succeeded 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 called that alley oop perfectly! Thank you sir! And i know what that means! I know how to grab the alley-oop and slam it down! I know that all right so alright

33:27 We have USA Today, Sports Pulse. They're gonna lay out the NBA's China problem. Fight for freedom! Stand with Hong Kong! Those seven words have the NBA 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 Greg Popovich or Steve Kerr tweets something in opposition to the Trump administration, very on-brand for their audience base But when Darryl Morey GM of the Houston Rockets tweeted out his support for Hong Kong panic took over the league

34:06 The Chinese Basketball Association suspended all ties with the Rockets and the NBA had a choice to make. Do nothing, support Maury or protect the relationship that the league has with China? They're trying to do it all." Yeah... Alright! So she was referring to what I said about him trying to moonwalk on a razor blade. Right. She even stated that being outrage and taking on social issues is baked into the brand of 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

34:52 the NBA leveraged itself on the side of its athletes speaking out. Like, we support A&R. If Colin Kaepernick was in the NBA, we would support him which is funny because they actually have a rule in the NBA against protesting during our national anthem but nobody wants to talk about that so... Well I think that NFL also has rules and you're supposed to conduct yourself in a certain manner during the national anthem Well, they didn't. It came after the actual rule came after. They didn't really have a rule in there but the NBA had a rule the whole time

35:35 But I mean, that's don't let us you saying like we always say don't let a the facts get in way of a good narrative. Of course Oh also They they did that as a way they're trying to jockey now and trying to become America is 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 of their athletes speaking out and say, look at us. We support our athletes taking stands against injustice. Look at those guys over there! They're conservative assholes. Let me go look at LeBron's Twitter feed I haven't seen anything from him yet

36:16 Oh, you're not going to say anything from him. Of course not! Hey I'm sorry... We have the future filter when we need it. I know i'll stay in the present for now Okay so um but she said a lot on that last clip but and then 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 their own speaking out against the human rights atrocities taking place in China? Well... Money! A lot of money

37:05 China is an economic juggernaut for the NBA. 490 million people in China consumed 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, we love playing 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 Moe when do we get these guys are slaves bit of this show? I'm just waiting for that

37:45 It's coming it's coming and 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 don't the better term would be ponds But what? We're headed in that direction so as she says the NFL I'm an NBA has never faced a cause of where it was impactful to their bottom line. Right, you know every stance they took was a safe stance... Oh that's with all of this woke stuff! It's all very safe for the people yelling at sure right yeah but when the rubber meets the road and but thats why such a shock for their fan base because they actually think these players are really down for the cause

38:37 But as we continue in the show, we're going to see they're down for the bottom line. Let's get to clip three. The NBA does not want to make China mad. They can't afford too but let's be real who the NBA has made a deal with and maybe there is no idea why Daryl Morey felt compelled to hit send on Twitter in the first place. 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's protesting first place it's getting ugly

39:32 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. Yeah, we're way ahead of schedule on losing our freedoms Adam. So we need to dial that back. All right sorry sorry yes no I'm just yeah it's weird it is just like you said so 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 sum up in one word of this story is hypocrisy

40:26 The hypocrisy of the NBA and its players have been so exposed that even the media couldn't protect them. Even the politicians couldn't protect them, I mean they're out there floating on a log 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 well they always do

41:08 So we're going to go to Speak For Yourself and why LeBron and Kaepernick have yet to address the NBA China controversy. The Chinese government and businesses have threatened the NBA's activity in China over the incident, but the NBA's most prominent voice on political and social justice issues LeBron James has yet to address it at all. The King's silence is undoubtedly related to his relationship with Nike whose business interests in China are even greater than the NBA's And another of Nike's social justice shoe salesmen Colin Kaepernick

41:49 has yet to offer any comment on the communist regime's attempt to curb the free speech of American citizen Daryl Morey. All right, 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 answer to that question he posed is yes they are pawns Yep They're well-paid pawns, but they are pawns nonetheless because 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 Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich

42:37 Know it's real easy to say. Oh, we stand with Colin Kaepernick in solidarity You know the stand up for what's right? Right but these guys have went missing We're talking about a guy like LeBron James at top tweets and Instagram posts about Taco Tuesday And calling Kaepernick he did this weird trick I don't know if you caught it or not when this thing whole thing start brewing up He did a look over there kind of thing. He sent out a two-page post, media press release on how he's not back in the 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! Here's the main thing... he's not a basketball player, he's a football player so what's the common element

43:32 Nike. Yeah, exactly. Nike and cash. 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, a cheaply made product and it sold for maybe 20-30x what they make it for. It's the great business scheme. I'd say more than 2030X but okay Maybe...I'm just being safe with the numbers but maybe even more Um, so, but yeah, Colin Kaepernick he knew people were going to be coming to ask him sticking a microphone in his face. Well if they can find them right there, they're gonna be tweeting out cause he never says anything, but they were going to be tweeting at him saying, Hey Colin

44:23 What's your take on this whole? Yeah. So he got out in front of that thing, I think at the behest of Nike and said hey they're going to come for you so let's release this press release to talk about the NFL and how you're not backing the NFL but that didn't stick either So, we're going to continue with the Speak for Yourself clip two. You may have the greatest exposure, you may have the greatest celebrity. You may have the loudest voice but if you're not in a room where decisions are being made then ultimately then you are upon. Your not the queen your not king your not a rook and with Lebron and Colin Kaepernick yes their ability to present a certain opinion is just that it's a certain opinion and its connected as you said once again its all about business

45:31 So what people are starting to realize is that LeBron James and Colin Kaepernick are not Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. They're Ronald McDonald and Colonel Sanders. Take them off the wall, they don't deserve that spot next to Oprah! Right, well they can't get on that wall. But yeah, they've tried to posture themselves as 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 went into the red. You're talking about I don't put words in your mouth is that we're all slaves Oh, we're all slaves a Gitmo nation absolutely right? We're also like I'm just want to clarify that kind of somebody like I just probably went bloodshot but

46:22 Okay, yeah Well 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 Slaves ways like this funny want to put it where slave It's interesting you say that because ten 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. Now, ten 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 people get offended Right, like Prince Ronald on the side of his face. Yes exactly! Well there you go that's the perfect example and I met Prince several times i talked to him about this and he was truly enslaved to Warner Brothers and that's how he felt so I think he used that term very appropriately at the time

47:22 And in the same way, LeBron James even they brought up. The reason I'm not getting on James Harding as much he's a player for the actual Houston Rockets of the general manager who made the statement because he hasn't been very political. He's like a fun-loving, you know basketball guy so but he came out and said oh we love China! But they kind of threw him out there to the wolves. And just as an aside it is real easy for us to say China this, China that You know, 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 you know when we say China or the Chinese it's not necessarily the people themselves but the regime. And let me put some... okay? I'm glad you brought that up because

48:22 And I just spoke with one person to the Chinese perspective on this whole thing. Yeah, which is needed. They don't say anything politically out loud This is totally foreign to them. The reason why I know this is, it's a guy that I work with he the Chinese guy and we talk basketball. I mean like literally talking about 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 say hey what is your take on this whole Chinese NBA thing? He got to a quiet hush

49:01 He was like, we don't talk about those things. I mean he was dead... We were laughing you know the Lakers and the Clippers just in a casual conversation but i just wanted to get some context right this is totally foreign for somebody To come out and make a political stance and by then that's why it really hits with a certain magnitude Over there that we can't understand 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 here in the States for? You know if the NFL just shut off, and there are no more games. I'm not so sure

49:44 That's the part that I'm fuzzy on. Is will it, I mean it's possible and if there's 490 million people who stood up and say forget the regime suppressing us and forget you locking people up we want our MBA! 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 they can't 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 Yeah all right It's not far-fetched at all because we don't understand

50:36 I don't think, like I said football. If you were to say and i want to give just an anecdotal example of football gambling it was illegal in America period But when they brought about fantasy football that changed everything right and it was like a couple states to try 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

51:16 In America is saying total now. I mean if you watch sports shows half of the show is about the lines I know it's so annoying yeah, so many ways that investment I Understand yeah The sports betting is its national pastime right but it came out of the closet due to fantasy football gotcha fancy football was the Ellen of sports games Alright Moe, I got you. We've offended everybody alright let's go Oh no but... Let's see so i want to introduce a small new segment uh to the show that is going to be probably a reoccurring theme not that frequent because it doesn't happen that often but its called when keeping it real goes wrong and just to give some background what that is That is when somebody tells the unmitigated truth

52:12 regardless of the fact and really that's what Del Morey did but we have a host on the same segment from speaking your own for um speak for yourself he goes total uh keeping it real goes wrong but let's get to jingle first you're watching when keeping it real goes wrong Alright, I quit 17. 17? Okay. Yeah. Here we go. Excuse me, excuse me! 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 so Mr Curry this is where I had a beef with you because you start-you came on my turf sir

53:00 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 and this thing with China. If you go back to, I'm going to connect it to politics in 2015 In May of 2015 President Barack Obama went to Nikes headquarters in Portland Oregon Yes And announced his defense

53:38 of the TPP, Trans-Pacific Partnership. That's right. Trade deal that was going to be very favorable for Nike, for China... Who is the president that came after Obama and walked America away from the TPP? Donald Trump! Who is the shoe company that employs LeBron James, Colin Kaepernick and these other athletes that smear Donald Trump as racist Who are the people constantly criticizing Donald Trump?

54:14 NBA, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich. The NBA answers to Nike. Nike's a $40 billion business. The NBA is an eight-billion dollar business. President Obama—the basketball president—friendly relationship with the NBA went to Nike's 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

54:59 So Jason Whitlock, who I follow him and I didn't even see this on Fox Sports 1. It was a...I don't watch a lot of Fox actually but this came on the 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 be careful no firearms in the house she can get two to the head and the gun in your left hand there's a lot of money at stake for him to be exposing But holy mackerel even I hadn't made the Obama Nike TPP connection and when Obama was there it went back and listened to his speech He was saying oh, that's great because you know finally Vietnam will have You know we'll 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 Chai Com president

55:57 And so, yeah. And the thing is that Speak for Yourself is on Fox and that's why I was mentioning earlier in the show it's 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... Yeah not yet Not yet but I'll tell you when you're talking 40-50 billion dollars a year and 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 bingo bingo so you are exactly right And this is one of the cases of keeping it get real goes wrong

56:48 And this is a new segment that I would like to bring to the show. You're watching when Keeping it Real goes wrong. Sorry, just threw your jingle in again. Yes so Keeping it real goes wrong just let me explain what that is That's when you tell the unmitigated truth regardless of the consequences or you do uh...you know....uh.....you go with your gut no matter what the consequences. And we've seen that with Jason Whitlock, and we see that in this next clip on Jason Whitlock's show. All right, you're a leverageable asset. I'm a leverageable asset. Whit is a leverageable asset if we are no longer a 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 cause is and their business model Is your you're not going to be here? The same goes for what what we're talking about right now So when you're talking about You know

57:56 Are these guys pawns for this political game? Of course they are. Mm-hmm, mm-hmm Political 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 upon beside yes? We're not pawns which is why we're doing a podcast mo and why we're not on Fox Which is why we ask people to donate to the show as he even brought up the word value Yes He did you see did and we that's exactly right actually and thank you for mentioning that That's our system value for value will talk about at the end of the show but yeah Yeah, so yeah where's the value these guys now and

58:38 Well, how does it stack up? So that is the example of keeping it 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 so we would not probably be here from LeVar Arrington anymore thanks for driving by yeah It took courage Yeah It took it took a lot of courage uh so With the help of you and Jason, we have identified Nike as the main culprit even behind bigger than NBA. I mean because the TPP that he referred to, the Trans-Pacific Partnership

59:21 I never liked because it was kind of this secretive 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. And then just kind of dumb stuff like the European Union has and I just didn't like it offhand because it wasn't transparent But it was a big deal. I mean, this is the EU still talks about it This is not something to be overlooked as oh just some little little funky thing And then this was huge and yeah Trump pretty much immediately said no, I'll have none of it now When I heard this clip my full hat went on I just watched this one half ask the question did Trump use the TPP as a leveraging tool to get this deal that he has with China now and

1:00:16 Oh, I would think so. Yeah why not? Makes sense! I'll crush this thing but hey you got on the back end you know you gotta give me a better deal yeah because the TPP actually will hurt China from my understanding oh yeah that's the whole point that was the whole right well no wait a minute i'm sorry let me take that back because wouldn't Vietnam get all the Chinese business yes it would hurt China That's what I said. It would hurt China. Yeah, it would hurt China so he was like hey...I got this thing over here that i can ignore and you know not be a headache to even try to attack it and it will kill you guys but if you give me a better deal its win-win for both of us Oh man! Just throwin' that out there. Oh yeah im just gonna shut up now because I don't want to be from the future okay? Im just listening. Just throwing that out there

1:01:15 So we see with Nike, we've already identified Nike as the culprit behind the NFL and China. They're a big player and their biggest player is 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 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 was to inspire the youth for when they have those dreams. They believe that they can make those dreams become true I think it's my responsibility To be more than an athlete man Kids hearts are gonna break all across the country So this is a they did a whole campaign about

1:02:20 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 For the fans of Guangzhou

1:03:05 It's easy LeBron is the man I heard it right there. Damn you are so close! I knew it couldn't be far off what was it exactly? The exact translation this is from the subtitles of this For most of the fans he is a real leader Now go back to the question that asked you before If LeBron James comes, and you should have seen these scores of people following him like he's Jesus Christ himself. Sure sure So if a LeBron James says I stand with Taiwan Oof yeah he can't say that Of course not The Chinese understands what is at risk here They understand the power of propaganda And athletes being used for propaganda

1:04:11 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 Louis 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. In fact, the Nazi press was appalled at the extent to which the American press were turning Schmeling into a Nazi it was creating anti-German feeling unnecessarily and this was not I mean put it into context This is not what Hitler wanted

1:05:19 Even the White House got involved. Franklin D. Roosevelt had maintained a regular correspondence with Mike Schmeling in the early 30s and even supported him against the Lithuanian-American Jack Sharkey in 1932, But by 1938, all that had changed. In 1938 Roosevelt asked Lewis to come to the White House and I'd 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 year before we entered the war

1:05:57 But the atmosphere was very much that. Max Schmeling 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 Max Schmeling 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 Oh Man this is perfect. You know 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

1:06:44 Yeah, Joe Louis was a... I know what he did for golf. American hero! He desegregated golf. I know that but it's typical for me to know that and not know about this Nazi thing That's fantastic And not only that, but that's why Ali caught so much flack. Right? Because they wanted to use him because Joe Louis went around he did expos- He actually joined the military, did exhibition fights and donated his purses to the troops. Here is the kicking ass though Adam! He did all of that and IRS charged him and ruined him over the money that he won

1:07:28 the purses to the military. Really? Because what happened was, the checks were made out to him He takes it signs that check over to the military charities or whatever We had to pay taxes first But the IRS counted as his... Right! Yeah but it was money he never had and they actually ruined him yeah And in his life and then So yeah so that was just a little note of 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 against Hitler right well yes this of course I remember because I was there now he Now 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

1:08:26 The Olympic Games in, was it Munich? No. Berlin! It was actually in Germany yeah and front of Hitler that's why it made so iconic but I mean him being a... Hey look at America hey send the black guy over there man you never know it's Hitler. Right nobody would be him. It's Hitler let him go. So American Wise asked they did a comical but factual take on the Jesse Owens versus Hitler. In 1936, the Olympics were in Germany, in Berlin, Germany It's 36 and the Nazis are running the show right? And then we sent over Jesse Owens The fastest man alive Yeah He was like a secret weapon in the 36 games

1:09:15 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 this one dude named Adolf too uh not Adolf like two Adolph as well anyway his name would was Adolf Dossler. 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! At night when everybody would go to sleep, Adolf Dossler him and his brother would sit in the kitchen He would cook up a batch of track shoe This is before you could like cook up meth So uh, Adolph Dossler... He and his brother they're in the shoe business and they know that they need somebody famous to wear their shoes

1:09:57 to get more people to buy him. So Adolf Dassler gets in his truck and he drives down into Berlin, and he introduces himself as Jesse Owens He's like hey Jesse my name is Adolf And if you would wear my truck shoes I'd be very very happy! Um...and you don't even have to call me Adolph All of my good friends call me Adi That's my nickname, Adi, Adidasla In fact if the company goes we're not going to call it Adidasla We're gonna tighten that up just called it Adidas So yeah, Adidas. 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? It's all about the shoes baby Wow Moe mom mama. I'm just gonna Ring my bell for you man Nice we have the origin of shoe endorsements going back to 1936 yes

1:10:50 How'd you find out about that? I knew about Jesse Owens, but also learned that. And and...I learned while doing this show and we see China understands as the crisis manager says China has a very long memory so they said hey we've seen these guys America's use these athletes and know as symbols of freedom of democracy People look at What was that quote little girl? I mean get hers at words. Oh, she's a leader this for most fans He's a really the key word is real leader. Ooh Yes, yes So if you let a LeBron James and in and one thing we haven't talked about this LeBron James was actually in China playing basketball When this tweet went out, you know so

1:11:48 In essence, LeBron James could stand up at a live game in China and say hey these guys suck. Your government's no good. Xi is a douche! And the people would probably do something about it At least the young ones Yeah It would call a real fissure. Yes, and their control mechanism they have of their people So this explains that China is not just retaliating they may be extremely worried about this stuff Yeah

1:12:26 which is the reason why they were hyper aggressive. I guess it's bigger than the money, and the money is one thing that's not let's not you know saying we're not let's not poopoo The money as well said this story has so many levels to yeah You have the money you had a political implications? You had the propaganda implications but with all that said We go back to hypocrisy because there was a Was delayed names from Fox I know her name. This is clear as day the blonde lady Laura Ingram Laura Ingraham She had a back and forth with LeBron prior to this situation Where she told him to shut up in dribble, and it was so much to make made about it He actually created a whole

1:13:26 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 dribbled China allowed the preseason game between the Lakers and the 76ers 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

1:14:20 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 dribbled 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 1 million plus people in concentration camps right now. He's shut up and dribbled in a country of $1.4 billion where they don't have

1:14:57 basic freedoms where they cannot 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 said Neil and he asked how low Adam silver LeBron James Greg 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

1:15:46 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 an example of the hypocrisy coming back to bite LeBron James in the ass with this shut up and dribble. Yep, he's just waiting for Wednesday to blow over So this is to be expected because Clay Travis is right-leaning you know so that is to be expected because they're gonna politicize it as they should when you're in that business but

1:16:31 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 Jemele Hill. Oh from ESPN, The One Who Hates Trump? So yes, I caught a clip of Miss Jemele Hill being interviewed on CNN bring in 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 a 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?

1:17:17 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 referred to Houston general manager Darrell Moore's tweet as regrettable, it really raised a lot of eyebrows. Here is 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 seemingly back away and distance himself 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 they have players and coaches and other league personnel that they've allowed to be vocal on a number of political topics

1:18:05 So it would be very hypocritical for the NBA to all of a sudden abandon those principles. Wait a minute, does Jemele Hill still work for ESPN i.e Disney? No she doesn't. Okay that's why so she has an axe to grind. She has an ax to grind! No kidding no kidding yeah well she's right. She is right and it's like oh as people say in common slang or 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 in the other topic. Right? And we heard from 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 being put in a box

1:18:51 The NBA silenced you. They silenced you, I'm sure it's an unofficial gag order on NBA players to make a statement. But who's going to be the Colin Kaepernick of the NBA? That's the question. I mean, if you're so... If you guys are so willing to stand up for what's right—what you consider what's right—who is gonna stand up for it?" And just for a moment there knowing about this Nike connection it also is very telling about why the NFL put up with Kaepernick at all

1:19:35 Yeah, I'm sure the night connection wouldn't you cuz 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 NFL really did make a statement when they signed a Collar cabinet to their 20. I think was twenty year just do it campaign right exactly Didn't really say anything then he said oh, we're gonna pull or threaten the pool 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 in 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 this

1:20:33 League, who delayed having the All-Star Game in Charlotte because of the controversial bathroom bill. This is the same league that basically—as Greg 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 is a different expectation for them. Oh, I love that. Social justice brand and social responsibility. Hold on let me write that down. Social responsible yeah it's good well you know so yeah go ahead they put their self in a serious box here and they're just seeming disingenuous their actions that they're taking

1:21:27 late and they won't go all the way in. Firedale more is not making their 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 to NBA will wish this will always just go away and something would take you saying take the attention away but know not as long as like I said that not politicians can politicize this and I think it mentioned in one clip before you had AOC and Ted Cruz working together. Yes, so we're in a weird... Well you know this fits one of my rules perfectly? And its the Adam Curry media boomerang rule. And I've observed this, I've witnessed this for 35 years when you use the media

1:22:20 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 its just the nature of media that if you're using it it'll turn around and bite you Its a very fickle lover And we see that often. Yes, so let's hear Jamel Hill wrap up her take on the NBA. It is just surprising considering this is a 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

1:23:12 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 your LeBron James and also are an empire unto yourself I would not be surprised if he were quiet Now does that mean for somebody who has this entire campaign called more than athlete...I don't know Yeah, yeah. I mean the best thing could please could North Korea shoot off a missile or something anything to get me out of this

1:23:52 anything, could turn up the heat on the impeachment. Something I mean and what's crazy is we're about to kick off the NBA season here in another week or so. So it's just gonna be right at that's why they were doing this China tour for preseason. It just gets better! 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 there for many, many years. Played for the team you know they had that you know There was some understanding with the Houston Rockets organization and in 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 him up to it

1:24:56 Why would you? Why that's the dumbest thing. You could do working for the NBA I mean like thee dumbest well, the only thing I can imagine is he got a call from the president said hook me up Do something nutty for me because I'm in the middle of this 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 When you think about it, it's an $8 billion league. What's a couple of billion dollars for the government to write a check to the NBA? To get them out of bed with China.

1:25:44 I have no idea. It's not that much money, it's really...I mean we talk about billions but it's really not that much money But ultimately, I mean I have no problem with the NBA and them 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 deeper than I realize And 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. Can we get along with China? We kill people who... we have capital punishment. We do all kinds of stuff looking from the outside it could look weird you know but 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

1:26:37 The flip side is you got to cut that shit out NBA in general just stop with the wokeness play some ball Okay, I still got my forehead on mm-hmm. You gotta know What was happening? Simultaneous to this whole event well We have the Chinese the China negotiations if that's what you mean yes wouldn't it work do use this for a distractionary and to for both sides China and America. Let's talk about the NBA because I'm sure all the deals that China made, I'm not saying...I'm going way out in the weeds here. Yeah don't look at what we're doing with 5G and possible spy networks being created. NBA! Right? Mm-hmm yeah possible. I haven't heard anything but a lot of people that are pro NBA are saying well the players

1:27:37 Shouldn't say anything because you know, that's a global Happening in Hong Kong and you know China. That's way above there You know now they're using the convenient thing this way above their pay grade And yeah, they show and talk about topics that they are educated about right? Mm-hmm So we're gonna do this little exercise here Adam All right What was some of things that the Trump administration and people around Trump have been criticized by liberals. Well, I mean you got to push me in the right direction. The memes just name some of the top memes? Well first of all the president is not presidential but that's not what we're looking for You need that you need to prod me along here i'm not following Okay on the border What was the meme Oh yeah We're putting children in cages 26

1:28:44 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 your thinking is exactly what im 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 cities as migrant workers…and so their children are left behind! Some parents only make it home about 2 or 3 times per year. You know how travel in China becomes a nightmare during Chinese New Year?

1:29:33 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 Granny. 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 lists 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.

1:30:12 US representative Chris Smith 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 as slave labor or sold into China's booming sex industry Now tell me that was a podcast and not something on mainstream that I don't think would ever air would it? No, that was a podcast Okay well bingo boom shakalaka So, and not only what we're saying here is this. If you're going to be super woke and what we're doing is that 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 but if you got to be critical do you have to keep that same energy?

1:31:04 That's what I'm saying. So if you criticize America for 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 there may be nuances to both... You know we know that they're not like really in dog cages at the border and I'm sure there are nuances as what kind of cages they keep them in China But yeah, of course What were doing is meme wars here Yeah, I gotcha The meme is clear This is memes here Okay so also on immigration

1:31:40 We've talked about immigrants being second-class citizens. Let's go to 28 Fan Zhongmei 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. Fan holds a rural hukou – a kind of domestic passport that defines people's rights if they move away from home Rights like where your children can be educated. Fan's three daughters having to move schools four times in the last few years Chinese citizens should have all the same rights and benefit equally from public services. That's the very least we can do to acknowledge the contribution the migrant workforce has made in transforming China in the last 30 years." Oh, there are your dreamers, your DACA kids! Yeah? The more different we seem, the more alike we are isn't it? That is that whole point of this exercise sir

1:32:35 to show that the elite, no matter where they're at. They'll throw your kids in a cage or treat you like 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 rural China oh if you want to say across imaginary line 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 part of this 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 by a certain community well He's a gay hater and he is all for conversion therapy

1:33:29 27, Adam. Harassed detained or sometimes medicated against their will 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 at China queer is examining what it's like to be gay in China and how activists are working for change here's a preview Ah Chiang 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 7-hour train to the small city of Jiumadian. On arrival, Ah Chiang immediately called the police and a lawyer. The lawyer agreed it was extreme...and illegal So he went inside the hospital asking to see Yuhu Yuhu told the hospital doctor that he was being kept against his will and wanted to leave

1:34:19 He was discharged that same afternoon, despite the protestations of his wife. He'd been married to her for 10 years pretending to be straight. Wow! That's plenty to stand up against and when you take those dollars NBA players... Let me clarify. NBA super woke players that want to make virtue signal? That's what we're talking about here You're being the ultimate hypocrite And that's all I'm saying here. Honestly, if you just want to play basketball go home cash your check enjoy life i believe that's your right but when you throw like you said when you throw that boomerang this is how it comes back and hits you. It's so interesting that Fox is doing this and as you eloquently explained earlier they will have to stop

1:35:18 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 some diversity and 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 gonna close because I don't think they have it in them I don't think they have the balls to To be even a little little little less hypocritical It just doesn't fit the model. And the media companies are also tied in, you know the movie companies we like I said We just pulled back there like a little edge of the rug of really the bigger problem Oh Like they might sit the movie companies the video game companies even fast-food industries all of these are in bed with this Bad lack of better word communist regime yes what okay?

1:36:20 Go ahead. I didn't mean to cut you off. I was going to say, as are many of our politicians the amount of Chinese money flowing through Washington for campaign donations is really outrageous it's not talked about but it's there! You can look it up this so much money flowing through K Street where the lobbyists are and America's big business that's what we've always been But yeah, this is very precarious. You're putting the big money in the hands of some players who you... Man how many times I've heard coaches complain about the players being on Twitter and it being distraction getting them actually affecting their playing now could affect the whole organization or multiple organizations

1:37:12 I'm glad you did this show, Mo. This is very good because... no i mean and 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 uh this is this will 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 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 wanna mix the two together because sports is an escape It's an escape from everyday life That's why you get such a pushback Now at the tail end of this exercise

1:38:10 The last thing America and this 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

1:38:51 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 about from the country's largest cinema chain not to show it after it went viral on English news sites. The Wall Street Journal's Josh Chin reported that the ad for Kia Obi laundry gel balls has been circulating around the Chinese internet since the end of March. But it wasn't until a China news blog, Shanghaiist wrote about it on Thursday that the video began to attract global attention. So is he ad offensive? You decide!

1:39:28 The ad opens with this black painter with his face and shirt smeared with paint flirting with a Chinese woman as she does her laundry. She beckons him over, acts like she'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 Can we see that video somewhere? Is that available? Yeah, it's on YouTube. I'll tweet it out. So basically... It's a confluence here because we also have kind of like the eating Tide Pods in there you know he throw the tide pod the liquid gel ball in his mouth yes throws him into washing machine and comes out as an Asian man That definitely wouldn't fly here in America

1:40:25 So, and finally the biggest faux pas in racism if there is one is blackface. Yes Would you think that consider racist Adam? What if someone's walking around in black face in the United States yeah definitely Yeah sure probably everywhere but yeah of course it's If its literally blackface as in the Al Jolson minstrel show, yeah super racist. Dhardi 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 and there's been a lot of people talking about this around the world today this is the spring festival gala on CCTV it's an annual variety show

1:41:19 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, uh 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, a lot of people dislike the Japanese who were very ruthless in the past century. The North Koreans man all Koreans are anti-Japanese and that's just like... People are racist! This is very true

1:42:17 Go ahead. Well, no it's but I yeah, 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 pong You know we don't do that either right because it's racially insensitive Yeah, so before I wanted to make it yeah if The super woke NBA players want to you know address anything Be consistent. If you want to go, come here and call out things when you go there call out the same identical exact things that are happening there

1:43:01 But they won't. I was going to say, Moe my friend 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 distraction by Wednesday but I got a feeling the president our president is may just keep it on the radar if its advantageous to what he's doing If he needs a distraction Yeah, or negotiating. It's gonna become cyclical because it's going to be like oh yeah what about the NBA over there? You know I mean this is what you do and like i said it just a fascinating story A fascinating story Because it has so many layers And as we see as history repeats itself No matter what the group of people it is

1:43:56 The elite artists saying and they and they take advantage of the lower classes the same way I think that's the you know, the synopsis of this 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 anyone who loves basketball or any other sport really wants to do, I think they would like this to go away but i think its very important for children Chinese American or otherwise who idolize these players

1:44:57 to be hopefully educated and subsequently aware that these may be false prophets, and who they're really worshipping is on a green piece of paper. Yes! That's 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 or time with it um and that's the real way you can impact things yeah meanwhile go spurs Hey Mo, thank you so much man. Another great MO Facts 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 mofundme.com M-O-E fund me dot com and we'll talk to you next Monday everybody bye bye

1:45:59 The water is so clear, the mountains are so green. The river is so long, the girls and boys are always together. I'm

1:46:52 Ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah. The mountains are long, the rivers are long. The girl and boy have different thoughts than the water is long

1:47:36 The mountains are full of flowers