[The Epoch Times, July 13, 2023](Reported by English Epoch Times reporter Katabella Roberts/Compiled by Qiusheng) Former NBA player Enes Kanter Freedom (Note: The real surname is Kanter, Freedom Dem (an added surname meaning freedom) claims his career was cut short by speaking out against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), costing him an estimated $50 million in salary and possible endorsement fees.
On July 11, the basketball player spoke before Congress and the Administration chaired by Rep. Chris Smith (R., N.J.) and Sen. Jeff Merkley (D., Ore. ). This statement was made at the hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC).
Titled “Corporate Complicity: Subsidizing the PRC’s Human Rights Violations,” Tuesday’s hearing focused on human rights violations in China, including genocide, organ harvesting, forced labor , Internet censorship and mass surveillance.
Another focus of the hearing was the high risk that international businesses and companies seeking to do business in China or maintain access to the Chinese market could become complicit in such human rights abuses if they were not careful.
“According to my agent, I lost about $50 million, including all the NBA contracts and endorsements I could have signed,” the athlete said.
He added, “But I sleep soundly at night because I know I did the right thing. My only confusion is: how the world’s largest dictatorship, China, can control a company that is 100 percent American-founded, and fire An American citizen?”
Actively participate in activities criticizing the CCP
Kanter told lawmakers at Tuesday’s hearing that he has regularly spoken out about human rights abuses in his native Turkey over the past 11 years. There, he said, “many innocent people have been prosecuted by the authorities of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan,” including his own relatives.
He later became active in criticizing the CCP because he previously attended a “simple basketball camp” in New York, during which a parent of a child asked him why he didn’t speak out about the CCP’s mistreatment of Uyghurs and members of other Muslim minorities Behavioral comments.
A 2022 report by the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) revealed that Uyghur Muslims in Xinjiang, China, may have suffered various “serious human rights violations.” The United States has also accused China of genocide. China has repeatedly refuted the allegations, calling them a smear campaign.
Human rights advocate and former NBA basketball player Enes Kanter Friedham speaks at a Congressional-Executive Commission on China conference entitled “Corporate Collusion: Facilitating the CCP’s Violations,” Washington, July 11, 2023. Human Rights Acts” hearing. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times in English)
Kanter told lawmakers that after being interviewed by the parent, he began researching allegations of human rights abuses against Uighurs and others by the Chinese Communist Party. He once spoke with a concentration camp survivor who told him in detail about her experience of torture, gang rape, forced sterilization and abortion in the camp.
“In that moment, I said to myself, no matter what the cost, I’m going to help these people,” he said.
Former Boston Celtics center Kanter has made headlines for speaking out against China’s human rights abuses. At one point he called Chinese leader Xi Jinping a “brutal dictator,” which led to the Celtics game being pulled from Chinese media.
He also called for a boycott of the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics to protest the Chinese Communist Party’s human rights abuses.
The ‘brutal’ end of a career
China and multiple Chinese brands are major sponsors of the NBA.
In addition, Kanter also spoke out on behalf of Tibetans. He wore sneakers emblazoned with the words “Free Tibet” in the 2021 NBA game (Boston Celtics) against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. The CCP took control of Tibet in 1951.
Kanter was later sidelined by the league, ending his career early.
“I’m a basketball player and my job is to go out there and compete with my teammates and try to win an NBA championship,” the former NBA player told lawmakers on Tuesday. “I ask people not to call me a retired NBA player because I refuse to accept that my career is over.”
He said, “I have spent my entire life trying to achieve my NBA dream, and I did. However, because I wanted to uphold justice, my career ended in a very brutal way.”
Kanter became a U.S. citizen in 2021. Erdogan’s government banned him from returning to his home country because of his political views and revoked his passport in 2017.
Still, Kanter has vowed to continue to speak out against human rights abuses in countries like China.
He told lawmakers that “freedom is not free and there is a price to pay, but someone has to stand up for innocent people around the world, no matter how much money or business is lost.”
Original text: Former NBA Player Enes Kanter Freedom Says He Lost $50 Million in Earnings After Speaking out Against CCP was published in the English “Epoch Times”.
Responsible editor: Li Lin#
2023-07-13 18:22:19
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