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Utah Jazz Player Rudy Gobert Speaks Out Against China

(Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)

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Utah Jazz player Rudy Gobert seemingly spoke out against China.

Gobert, who plays as a center for the Jazz, shared an Instagram post Thursday on his story and wrote “wrong is wrong,” according to an article published by Outkick. Once clicked into, the Instagram post explains the situation happening to Uighur Muslims in concentration camps in China.


The Instagram post was originally shared by French actor Omar Sy.

“Millions of Uyghur Muslims are detained and tortured in concentration camps in China,” Sy captioned the post. “Not for what they do, but for who they are. It is the largest mass incarceration of the 21st century. It has to end.”

He ended the post with, “#FreeUyghurs.”

The post by Gobert, while vague, becomes the first by any NBA player to publicly show concern over internment camps.

Since 2017, over one million Uighurs have been detained in 85 identified camps, according to PBS News Hour. The Chinese government has acknowledged the camps exist and refer to them as “re-education centers,” the outlet reported. Members of the Muslim community claimed they were beaten while at the internment camp.

The NBA claimed recently it had shut down a training facility in the area of Xinjiang, as previously reported. (RELATED: NBA Says It Has Terminated Relationship With Training Facility Where Uighur Muslims Are Being Held)

“The NBA has had no involvement with the Xinjiang basketball academy for more than a year, and the relationship has been terminated,” Deputy Commissioner Mark Tatum said at the time.