Republican Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley called for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to testify on Capitol Hill regarding allegations that his league operated training camps in China where children were beaten.
Hawley’s request comes after a bombshell report from ESPN detailing the alleged culture of abuse inside the NBA’s “China Academies,” youth development camps aimed at fostering basketball talent in communist China. Representatives for the NBA told ESPN they are now “reevaluating” and “considering other opportunities” for the program, which was launched in 2016.
.@NBA Adam Silver ought to come to Capitol Hill and explain this situation https://t.co/mWaHOJVeb1
— Josh Hawley (@HawleyMO) July 29, 2020
“Imagine you have a kid who’s 13, 14 years old, and you’ve got a grown coach who is 40 years old hitting your kid,” a former coach at the camps told ESPN. “We’re part of that. The NBA is part of that.” (RELATED: ESPN Reporter Allegedly Tells Sen. Josh Hawley ‘F*** You’ Over NBA, China Criticism)
Critics have lambasted the NBA for its apparent willingness to ignore the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses. After Houston Rockets Manager Daryl Morey tweeted support for pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong in 2019, both he and Silver soon issued apologies to China.
Hong Kong, traditionally a democratic stronghold in China, has now been essentially taken over by the communist regime and the U.S. no longer recognizes it as autonomous.