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, 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. I want to make sure 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-no-agenda listeners. As of right now, I'm trying to convert them, but it's okay. It's okay.

00:44 We bring them in with Mo Facts, 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 mofundme.com, M-O-E-FundMe.com. 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. And I'll remind you at the end of this show as well. Now, you already told me what's going to 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.

01:25 And then once you sent me a note saying, oh, Monday, we'll do this. I'm like, okay, I'm just going to kick back, relax. I thought. You know, then you put me to work, like doing clips and stuff. It's like, seriously, Mo, we got to talk about the distribution of a workload here. And you're stepping on my beats, man. Hey, look, Fox Sports One is my beat. Okay. So. Hey, hey, what can I tell you? I mean, you know, but I'm just chilling. I look a little, I watch a little FS1. Check out my man Jason. You know, I know what's happening. I'm up to speed. Yeah, when I was listening to the show yesterday, I was like, man, he's all over my clips.

02:04 I know. So for the people that's not in the know and are not old school hip-hop fans, you might not have a hint by now that we're talking about the NBA and China and the going-ons between the two. So we're clip heavy today, so I want to jump right in and let's just get clip one for some background. Police come to East Book Cool, I'm sorry. More protests in Hong Kong today, and tonight the conflict between demonstrators and police is impacting Houston.

02:44 The Houston Rockets are facing backlash because general manager Darryl Maury tweeted support for those protesters. Stephanie Whitfield shows us how one little tweet can have huge consequences. 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 Maury 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.

03:23 Well, on Friday, the Rockets GM tweeted a picture that read, fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong. Owner Tillman Fertita quickly stepped in saying Maury does not speak for the Rockets. We are not a political organization. Well, tonight, Daryl Maury 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 broadcasts the NBA in China says it won't cover Rockets games.

04:00 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. Stephanie Whitfield, K-H-O-U, 11 News. Yeah, this was great. This was so interesting to hear, not following sports at all, as you've already pointed out. Yes. All of a sudden, I was like, oh, that's interesting. So what's the deal with China and the NBA? I mean, I really didn't know anything about it. Okay, so, and I actually have a clip slip here, but I'll give you a little background.

04:41 A little thing I didn't know in my digging up why this is such a big deal. Basketball is Chinese national sport. And it has been since like the early 1900s when the YMCA went over. Really? And yeah, and I'm. I hate I lost that clip in the shuffle, but yeah, I mean, that's why they have, it's such a big deal. Even Mao, he was a big fan of basketball. And that explains Kim Jong-un's fashion fascination with it as well. Of course, North Korea being closely allied to China. Yes. So all this

05:20 is coming together. And as they said, Yao Ming, I know you're not a huge sports fan, but 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 is in San Francisco. Sure, sure. Which is crazy because a draft is supposed to be randomized. You know, it's a random process. Wait a minute. You're telling me there's funny stuff going on there? I'm shocked, Mo. Right. Something fucking sports. Okay.

06:03 But we can see here with when big money's involved, the NBA is, you know, it looks at its interests first. Well, it's a business, of course. It's a business kind of covering as some kind of philanthropic. We're just organizing the game type deal, but it's huge. Yes. And as we're going to see here, it might be even bigger than business, but we'll get to that later. So now we have a crisis. Darrell Moray of the Houston Rock. And that's what was weird that it came from the franchise, which is most

06:44 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 that 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 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.

07:23 And I think, you know, we have to say, you know, what makes America great? It's not winning, it's leadership. And I think that we failed to show leadership here. And what they've responded with that, I call it beached on a sludge bank of corporate puff statement is something that really is a bit vacuous and lacks the intent and the 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 it's something with business. But also, who's the British guy? What is he doing there? He is a crisis manager, a professional crisis manager. Ah, does he work for Hilen Knowlton or one of these outfits? I'm not sure where he worked from. I didn't get that information, but he came in just to speak on how the NBA should handle the crisis.

08:05 And let me make something else clear here. There's certain networks that are aligned with the NBA due to the television deals. Right. 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 deal, TV deals. Okay. So that's why you hear organizations like Fox, NBC, they don't have any NBA skin in the NBA game.

08:43 So they can, I want to lay that out for people. That's why I didn't really get any ESPN clips because they're vested so much so that I couldn't show this on the graphic because we do audio. But they showed a map of China after this happened with the South China Sea on the map as part of China. Was that during a news cast? That was on ESPN, you said, which is. Yes, ESPN, where they had like, you know, they, you know, how they have the big screen behind them and have like they showed the map of China. Sure. And some guy captured it on YouTube. That was great. And it was like a little dotted line in the sea.

09:28 Oh, my goodness. Highlighting. Yeah. Yeah, that's part of the nine-dash line, I think. We've talked about it. I think it was on No Agenda. That the Chinese, it was like 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. Oh, yeah, that's part of our territory. Interesting, though, that they would show that. And of course, both ABC and ESPN are owned by Disney. Disney now. Yes, yes. So they're all, like I said, they're all in bed with the NBA. I mean, as they should as business. So, but they have been very careful how they spoke about it.

10:08 Whereas you, like you said, we both listened to Fox Fox Sports News. 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've done so far is behaved in what the wrong way is of crisis, which is kind of to deny, to delay, to deflect the situation. So they've denied it's their point of view. They've deflected it on Daryl in terms of making that statement. Really, what they need to do now is respond boldly, but that's going to be very difficult because they've come out of the gate rather shy and rather shy.

10:50 How can they respond boldly to the U.S. audience that is upset without further upsetting the Chinese? Well, this is going to be the dilemma. And I think, you know, this is a marketing dilemma. No, this is why this guy charges a lot of money for crisis management because he's not telling you anything. He's just like, well, big 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. Dingo. So I think he's kind of advertising like, hey, if you really, it's kind of like when you click on something, if you really want to see the details, you know, any of your credit card numbers. Sign up, register. Yeah, don't worry. You won't be charged for the first month. Right. Right.

11:34 So I'm glad you caught that. Oh, that he's not really saying anything, which is that him displaying his skill set. I think, I think so. And I think you picked up on that as well. Yeah. So let's listen to the crisis manager and his final take. You know, 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 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 paul over the entire think about how many times we come on set, we talk about some crazy thing and then a week later no one remembers it.

12:15 Usually here in the United States, usually on social media, but they'll remember in China. Well, China has a long time 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 going to remember this. Potentially, that's what they have to hope on. That's going to have to be their strategy. That cannot be the strategy in China. Well, that's not going to work that strategy because Mo Fax 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. I found this fascinating because the business aspects of it, the political aspects of it, as we know, President Trump is in actual trade war with China.

13:02 So, and he's been in a word war with the NBA and its players. So you have all these different players in this game for like, you know, saying no pun intended that are, you know, 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 there is a huge deal behind that. I mean, there's broadcast rights. Is that something they pay up front? Do they pay monthly? How does it work with the merchandising? Will they just shut down shoe production?

13:45 I mean, there's all this stuff that is up in the air. 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 five times, maybe 10 times what they are in the U.S. 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,

14:25 imagine if you say you're going to shut football off in America. I mean, it's like the equivalent. You will have so much outcry 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 in the show, that's just a tip. teaser, but we're going to see later why in the show. But my mind is already racing, Moe. I can think of so many different things that is going on with the Chinese. I mean, my favorite thought is maybe they just want to signal to Trump that, hey, we didn't like Obama either. You know, something like that. It's just, I don't know. It could be anything.

15:11 It's a lot of things. It's not just one thing. It's a lot of things. And like I said, it's a lot of different players. And one of those players in this game is the commissioner Adam Silver. And as the crisis manager says, he's handled this very poorly. And let's listen to an example of that. As some of 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.

15:55 And essentially, what I've said in that statement is the long-held values of the NBA are to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the NBA community. And in this case, Daryl Moray, as the general manager of the Houston Rockets, enjoys that right as one of our employees. What I also tried to suggest is I understand that there are consequences from that exercise of, in essence, his freedom of speech. And, you know, we will have to live with those consequences. I love the, hey, you did not, it got lost in translation, dumb Chinese.

16:39 And you missed something. You missed something before that. Oh, what was that? He says, I thought we were somewhat straightforward. How are you somewhat straightforward? Good point. Good catch. I'm kind of truthful. Come on. Trying my best to. Brian, 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 that is they want somebody fired. They want to see heads roll and they want to see somebody getting gotten rid of.

17:25 But if he does that, it signals to the, and let me explain something. The NBA has a woke contingency in their fan base just because of what the NBA represents or has tried to represent. So if he goes and fires a guy over freedom of speech, then he loses that market. So now it's like he's doing this balancing act and he's been very unsuccessful with it. I think he needs to call the crisis manager. Especially, you know, I mean, I remember when Adam Silver became the commissioner, and I just remember going, wow, man, that guy looks creepy.

18:09 He better say something good because just looking at him, you're like, I don't want to do business with him. It looks like he's right out of the Adams family. He does. He gives you that vibe. So now we have, like I said before, we have some super woke coaches in the NBA, one being Steve Kerr, and the other one being Greg Popovich. And so Greg Popovich tried to do this weird parlor trick. And I'm not going to say anything, but see if you can catch it. Freedom of speech. They felt great again. So

18:52 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. And it wasn't easy for him to say. He said that in an environment fraught with possible economic peril. But he sided with the principles that we all hold dearly. Or most of us do.

19:31 At least over the last three years. Well, this is interesting. What I got from that is it's Trump's fault. Whatever, Trump's fault. fault, man, it's 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 Popovich is manager of what which team? Popovich is the coach. He's the coach. Look, we've determined that this is the white men can't jump edition of Mo Facts with Adam Curry.

20:15 So if you're going to be on the sports beat, I gotta keep gotta keep up your chop. All right. Well, all coaches are referred to as coaches, Adam. Oh, geez. I'm just pulling your leg. But yeah, he is the coach of the Spurs, San Antonio Spurs. Oh, right down the road. Okay. Yeah. Of course. I should have known. So, but he's also, he's been pro. I mean, he's been anti-Trump the whole time Trump has been in office, and he's been pro-woke, woke agenda, which the strange thing is, and I want to say this right off the bat.

20:57 I believe these coaches have to appear to be woke because Greg Popovich came from a military background. Let me be clear on that. Actually, military intelligence, I believe, in the Air Force, if I'm not mistaken. So with that says, him and Steve Kerr are coaches of two of the biggest franchises in the NBA. And to recruit woke players, you have to appear to be a woke coach. Because Greg Popovich was originally known as being one of the most stringent

21:39 system coaches, you know, there is. But he's done this weird pivot in the last few, you know, saying last several years to, you know what I'm saying, being very liberal. With that says, let's listen to more of Greg Popovich. So I'm thrilled with what he said. And as I said, the courage and leadership displayed is off the charts by comparison. You know, 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.

22:20 Adam said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of a Bristol Khashoggi. And there are many, many incidents like that where it's leadership and courage mean nothing. It's 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. You know, it's been so hard and we're real leaders. Bull crap. Did you catch the one thing in there? Did you catch the?

23:05 I didn't ring my bell too much because it was so much stuff I could have rang it on. It's one name he brought up in there. Oh, I want to know. Did you catch it? It was in 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. And as I said, the courage and leadership displayed is off the charts by comparison. You know, 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.

23:47 Adam said something that helps you understand what direction you need to go in rather than the cowardice of not being able to respond to something like the murder of a Mr. Khashoggi. Oh, yeah, yeah, of course. Of course. Because sure. 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 the Saudis did in Turkey, then you can't watch basketball. I mean, what is this guy? This guy is insane to say these things. It was actually very, very measured and calculated. I look at, and that's maybe that's just how I look at things. He was throwing red meat to the media. Oh, yeah. Hey, you're going to let he didn't really talk up when he killed one of you guys, one of the press.

24:32 This is kind of right. And this is, yeah, it's a good point. And part, and actually, that did work for a little bit there. It blipped. I. remember just in the past week or so, this blip of a little bit of Khashoggi Khashoggi news or referring to it. But, you know, the consultant, the British consultant on CNBC, he was kind of saying what he's doing. He's 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 meat. Yeah. Good analysis. Yeah, to the media. Yeah, to the media. Because he wanted the media to go soft on the NBA, but the media couldn't go soft on the NBA.

25:14 And I think Greg miscalculated one thing. Whenever you come for Trump, Trump is going to come back for you, you know, 10 times worse. And with that said, let me just, we've known Trump has been in his bag for the last so week and a half or so with, you know what I'm saying, just with how he's been coming at people. I mean, he's been a shifty shift. Nervous Nancy. Right. Nervous Nancy. Peter and Lisa. The lovers. So he's in rare form. I mean, he's in sports, what they call lathering up.

25:55 He's lathering up, right? That's when you get a good sweat going to go into 2020. And so, with that said, he's ready for Greg Popovich. And let's listen to him. Are the Chinese 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. He was so scared to be even answering the question. He couldn't answer the question. He was shaking. 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. 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.

26:37 I thought it was pretty sad, actually. So are you okay? 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 NBA is, they know what they're doing, but I watched the way that Kerr and Popovich and some of the others were pandering to China. And yet to our own country, it's like they don't respect it. It's like they don't respect it. I said, what a difference. Isn't it sad? It's very sad. To me, it's very sad. Oh, man. Classic. Classic. Call him unpatriotic. It works every time.

27:15 He kicked the ball right back on their side of the field. Yep. And he got, he dodged it 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 the Treasury, say, well, this is just like buying a building, which was interesting for him to say that, Trump being a builder. He said, you know, now we got everything. We got the notes. We're going to write it down. We got to hash some stuff out.

27:54 But basically, no tariff increase as scheduled. And there would be, I'm not so happy with it, but technology transfer and agreements regarding 5G. And then also, as Trump calls, as Steve Pachenek calls it, Hu Wei, but Huawei. But I think the big thing here is farmers, and the Chinese apparently are already buying instead of the $8 billion worth of goods, it'll go up to 40. They say between 40 and 50, so I'll just say 40. And then the financial integration of Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, and the Credit American Express and Visa MasterCard into China.

28:36 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 two. It wouldn't surprise me. He's certainly teeing it up that way. He is. And he made a political decision in two ways in a small one-minute clip that he laid down there. One, the press was trying to get a soundbite of him coming at China. And he was like, that's not going to happen. He's like, that's between the NBA and China, which for Trump, I know that was very calculated because if he had nothing to lose, he would have let go on how he really felt.

29:21 But he knew he had a deal brewing in the background. And two, if you noticed, okay, I didn't get the Steve Kerr clip because one, there was nothing really there. And two, it was very inaudible. inaudible because he was speaking very timid and low and kind of like that. And it was like, so it was very unclippable. But Greg Popovich was very vocal against Trump. Yeah. Where Steve Kerr wasn't, but Trump chose to go after Steve Kerr. That was a political decision, in my opinion. And Kerr and Swap. Just remind me, Kerr is coach for

30:06 Golden State Warriors. Ah, okay. I got you. My brother from another. My brother out there. Steph. Right, right. Yeah, he's your brother's coach. Which is located where? California. California, sure. San Antonio is located in Texas. That's red and blue right there. Yeah. So he said, let me go after the low-hanging fruit over here in California. Yeah, yeah, yeah, right on. And I don't want to, you know, say, upset the albu card of the San Antonio fans. Right. That's why I said it's a lot of, it's a lot of moving pieces in this whole story. And that's why it just fascinated me. And it made a very easy pick for me what this topic was going to be about today.

30:49 So with that said, 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, you know, working in the background. And then doing my research, I found this little, it's not necessary to the story, but it was funny what I found. 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? Nope, I'm in Washington. I do apologize. I'm sorry. I'm mistaken. My fault. My fault. Look.

31:33 Okay. No, no, I'm not in China. Yeah, he outed him. No, no, no. I'm not there. Right. So you got this former national security office official. Well, allegedly, maybe in Hong Kong. Yeah, let me address what we're doing, have done with Hong Kong. And I say this with some certainty. So, you know, we're obviously working on a trade deal with Hong Kong, with China. Hong Kong is effectively owned and in a two-system state, which means Hong Kong has its own

32:12 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. I'm 99% convinced that our own forces, I'll just say the civilians in the State Department, i.e., spooks, et cetera, they're over in Hong Kong and they're riling them up and keeping them going and giving them U.S. flags and playing the U.S. national anthem and getting guys to say stuff like this.

32:57 China is asshole. I mean, it's brilliant, brilliant to keep the pressure up. And I think it succeeded. And 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, all right. So we have USA Today Sports Pulse. They're going to lay out the NBA's NBA's China problem. Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong. Those seven words have the NBA shaking.

33:41 Politicians tweeting and U.S. 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 Daryl Maury, GM of the Houston Rockets, tweeted out his support for Hong Kong, panic took over the league. 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. All right. So that's that.

34:24 She was referring to what I said about him shining the moonwalk on a razor blade. So she's even stated. stated that being outraged and taking on social issues is baked into the brain 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, the NBA leveraged itself on the side of its athletes speaking out. Like, we support, you know, if that was, if Colin Kaepernick was in the NBA, we would support him.

35:03 Which is funny because they actually have a rule in the NBA against protesting during the national anthem. But nobody wants to talk about that. So, well, I think the 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. Okay, oh, okay. They didn't really have a rule in there, but the NBA had a rule the whole time. But I mean, that's don't let us, you know, saying, like we always say, don't let the facts get in the way of a good narrative.

35:42 Yeah, of course. Also, they did that as a way they're trying to jockey now and trying to become America's number one sport. Oh, of course. They want to take it all away. Yeah, 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, you know what I'm saying, taking stands against injustice. Look at those guys over there. You know what I'm saying? They're conservative assholes. Let me go. Let me go look at LeBron's Twitter feed. I haven't seen anything from him yet. Oh, you're not going to see anything from him. You're getting ahead. I'm sorry. Let the future filter when we leave it. I know.

36:25 I'll stay in the present for now. Okay. So, but she said a lot in that last clip. But in the next clip, we're going to find out why LeBron and other players are not going to 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 of 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 of their own speaking out against human rights atrocities taking place in China? Well, money. A lot of money. China is an economic juggernaut for the NBA.

37:09 490 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, Mo, when do we get to these guys are slaves bit of the show? I'm just waiting for that. It's coming. It's coming. And we know who they are. They're owned by.

37:52 And like I said, we're going to get there. And I don't, the better term would be pawns, but we're headed in that direction. So as she says, the NFL, I mean, the NBA has never faced a cause where it was impactful to their bottom line. Right. You know, every stance they took was a safe stance. That's with all of this woke stuff. It's all very safe for the people yelling it. Sure. Right. But when the rubber meets the road, but that's why it's such a shock for their fan base. Right. Because they actually think these players are really down for the cause.

38:38 But as we continue in the show, we're going to see they're down for the bottom line. But let's get to clip three. The NBA does not want to make China mad. They can't afford to. But let's be real who the NBA has made a deal with. And maybe the reason why Daryl Mori felt compelled to hit send on Twitter in the first place. China's government 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.

39:15 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. upon. Which is why Hong Kong is protesting in the first place. It's getting ugly. 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. She said something interesting. She said, Hong Kong is losing its freedoms faster than agreed upon. I thought that was pretty funny. Yeah,

39:58 we're way ahead of schedule and losing our freedoms, Adam. So we need to dial that back. All right. Sorry. Sorry. Yes. No, no, I'm just, yeah, that's weird. It's just, like I said. So the main issue with this whole story, I mean, you had your political implications and everything like that. But the main word, if we had to sum up one word of the story, is hypocrisy. Yeah. The hypocrisy of the NBA and its players have been so exposed that even the media couldn't protect them.

40:37 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 make money with. Right. As they always do. So we're going to go to speak for yourself and why LeBron and Kaepernick have yet to address the NBA China controversy.

41:18 Time now for a big story. Let's return to the NBA, which continues to be able to fall out over Daryl Maury's tweet last week in support of democracy protesters in Hong Kong. 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, has yet to offer any comment on the communist regime's attempt to curb the free speech of American citizen Daryl Maury.

41:56 All right, the 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 that 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 and the NBA coaches,

42:33 Steve Kerr and Greg Popovich, you know, it's real easy to say, oh, we're standing with Colin Kaepernick in solidarity, you know, to stand up for what's right. Right. But these guys have went missing. We're talking about a guy like LeBron James that tweets and Instagram posts about Taco Tuesday. And Colin Kaepernick, he did this weird trick. I don't know if you caught it or not. When this thing, this whole thing started brewing up, he did a look over there kind of thing. He sent out a two-page post, a media press release on how he's not back in the NBA, NFL yet. He got out ahead of this thing.

43:18 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? Nike. Yeah, exactly. Nike and Kevin. Nike. Yeah. 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's sold for maybe 20, 30x what they make it for.

43:58 It's a great business scheme. I'd say more than 20, 30x, but okay. Maybe I'm just being safe with the numbers, but it may be even more. So, but yeah, Colin Kaepernick, he knew people were going to be coming to ask him, stick a microphone in his face. Well, if they can find him, they're going to be tweeting out because he never says anything, but. they're going to be tweeting at him saying, Hey, Colin, what's your take on you? Yeah. So he got out in front of that thing. I think at the be at the be I would assume at the behest of Nike and say, 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 back in the NFL.

44:41 But that didn't stick either. So we're going to continue with the Speak For Yourself clip, clip two. There's a song from Hamilton, I want to be in the room when it happens, right? Where it happens. And to me, you're a pawn if you're not in the room. You may have the greatest exposure. You may have the greatest celebrity. You may have the loudest voice. But if you're not in the room where the decisions are being made, then ultimately, then you are a pawn. You're not the queen. You're not the king. You're 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.

45:25 And it's connected, as you said, once again, it's all about business. 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, that's what they've tried to, they 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, and I don't want to put words in your mouth, is that we're all slaves.

46:12 Oh, we're all slaves of Gitmo Nation. Absolutely. Right. We're all slaves. I just want to clarify that because I know somebody like I just probably went bloodshot, but that's listening. Okay. 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. Debt slaves, wage slaves, however you want to put it. We're slaves. It's interesting you say that because 10 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 that 10 years ago, that was interpreted as, oh, I get it. We're all slaves of the system and the barcode.

46:54 Now you can't do that. People get offended. Like how Prince run on the side of his face. Yes, exactly. Well, but that, well, there you go. That's the perfect example. And I met Prince several times. I talked to him, talked to him about this. And he was truly enslaved to Warner Brothers. And that's how he felt. And so I think he used that term very appropriately at the time. And in the same way, LeBron James, even they brought up the reason why 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.

47:38 And he's like a fun-loving, you know, basketball, just a basketball guy. But he's the one that came out and said, oh, we love China. But they kind of threw him out there to the wolves. Like, hey. And by, and just, just as an aside, you know, it's 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, the Chinese, it's, you know, it's not necessarily the people themselves, but the regime. And let me put some, okay, I'm glad you brought that up because I'm going to put some context to

48:23 the, and I just spoke with one person to the Chinese perspective on this whole thing. Yeah, which is needed. They don't, 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's a Chinese guy and we talk basketball. I mean, I mean, like, literally taught, you know, 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, I said, hey, what is your take on this whole Chinese NBA thing? And he got to a quiet hush. He was like, we don't talk about those things. Yeah. I mean, he was dead.

49:07 I mean, because we were laughing, you know, the Lakers, the Clippers, you know, just in a callous conversation, but I just wanted to get. get some, you know, context. Right. This is totally foreign for somebody to come out and make a political stance. And that's why it really hits with a certain magnitude over there that we can't understand. And 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 were no more games? I'm not so sure. I uh that's the part that I'm fuzzy on. Is will the I mean, it's possible.

49:49 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 NBA. 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 regime? Why, yes, I think you're right. I mean, it's not far-fetched.

50:31 Yeah. Yeah. All right. It's not far-fetched at all because we don't understand. I don't think, like I said, football. If you were to say, and I want to give just an anecdotal example, football, gambling was illegal in America, period. But when they brought about fantasy football, that changed everything. Right. And it was like a couple of states that tried to ban and make fantasy football illegal. Right. And they got so much mail. The two senators and representatives of those two states got so much mail that they had to back down.

51:11 And that really kicked the door down for sports gambling to be accepted in America in 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, I mean, but it's an investment. It's an investment tool. It's what it is. I understand. Yeah, the sports betting is a national pastime. Right, but it came out of the closet due to fantasy football. Gotcha. Fantasy football was the Ellen of sports gambling. All right, Mo. I got you. We've offended everybody. All right, let's go. Oh, no, but let's see. So I want to introduce a small new segment to the show.

51:56 It's going to be probably a reoccurring theme, not that frequent because it doesn't happen that often. But it's called When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong. And just to give some background what that is, that is when somebody tells the unmitigated truth, regardless of the fact. And really, that's what Dale Moray did. But we have a host on the same segment from the speaking your speak for yourself. He goes total keeping it real goes wrong, but let's get the jingle first. You were watching When Keeping It Real Goes Wrong.

52:37 All right. 17. 17? Okay. Yeah. All right. Here we go. Excuse me. Excuse me. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. I'm out of order. Yeah, you did. You skipped one, but I just wanted to let you go. Okay, no, no. So, Mr. Curry, this is where I had a beef with you. Because you start, you came on my turf, sir. I know. I was sitting back on a 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.

53:22 If you go back to, I'm going to connect it to politics. In 2015, in May of 2015, President Barack Obama went to Nike's headquarters in Portland, Oregon, and announced his defense of the TPP Trans-Pacific Partnership. That's right. Trade deal was going to be very favorable for Nike, for China. Who's 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?

54:09 Who are are the people constantly criticizing Donald Trump? NBA, Steve Kerr, Greg Popovich. The NBA answers to Nike. Nike's a $40 billion business. The NBA is an $8 billion 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 once done.

54:47 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. So Jason Whitlock, who I've, you know, I follow him, and I didn't even see this on Fox Sports One. It was, I don't watch a lot of Fox, actually, but this came on a 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. You know, be careful, no firearms in the house. You can get two to the head and the gun in your left hand.

55:24 There's a lot of money at stake for him to be exposing this. But holy mackerel, even I hadn't made the Obama-Nike TPP connection. And when Obama was there, I went back and listened to his speech. He was saying, oh, it's great because, you know, finally, Vietnam will have, you know, will 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 Obama was the Chikom president. And so, yeah. And the thing is that speak for yourself is on Fox.

56:03 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, Nike. Not yet, but I'll tell you, when you're talking $40, $50 billion a year in 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.

56:40 Bingo. Bingo. So you are exactly right. And this is one of the cases of Keeping It Get Real Goes Wrong. And this is a new segment that I would like to bring to the show. You were watching when Keeping It Real Goes Wrong. Sorry, I just threw your jingle in again. Yes. So Keeping It Get Real Goes Wrong. Just let me explain what that is. That is when you tell the unmitigated truth, regardless of the consequences, or you do a, you know, you go at your gut, no matter what the consequence is. And we've seen that with Jason Whitlock. And we see that in this next clip on Jason Whitzlock's show. You are a pawn. I hate to break this news to you.

57:21 Marcellus, you are a pawn. I don't play chess. You are a pawn, and you're a pawn because you are a leverageable. You're a leverageable asset. All right. You're a leverageable asset. I'm a leverageable asset. WIT 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, you're not going to be here. The same goes for what we're talking about right now. So when you're talking about, you know, are these guys pawns for this political game? Of course they are. Political.

58:04 But 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 a pawn besides? 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. And he even brought up the word value. Yes, he did. Yes, he did. And that's exactly right, actually. And thank you for mentioning that. That's our system, value for value. We'll talk about it at the end of the show. But yeah. So, yeah, where's the value of these guys now? And how does it stack up? So that is the example of keeping it when keeping it real goes wrong. And that was LaVar Arrington, a former football player.

58:47 I mean, stellar football player. And he called Jason Whitlock a pawn on his own show. So we will not probably be here from LeVar Arrington. Nope. Anymore. Thanks for dropping by. Yeah, it took courage. Yeah. It took a lot of courage. So. with the help of you, uh, and Jason, we have identified Nike as the main culprit, even behind bigger than in the NBA. I mean, the TPP because the NBA, the TPP that he referred to, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, I never liked because it was kind of this secretive document.

59:24 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. I mean, this 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. I mean, 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.

1:00:05 I just watched this. I just want to ask a question. Did Trump use the TPP as a leveraging tool to get this deal that he has with China now? Oh, I would think so. Yeah, why not? Makes sense. I'll crush this thing, but hey, you got it on the back end. You know, you got to, you know, saying, give me a better deal. Yeah. Because the TPP actually would hurt China. That's my understanding. Oh, yeah. That's the whole point. That was the whole. Well, no, wait a minute. I'm sorry. Let me take that back. Because wouldn't Vietnam, wouldn't Vietnam get all the Chinese business? Yes, it would hurt China.

1:00:44 That's what, yeah, that's what I said. It would hurt China. I just understood what you said. Okay, yeah, it would hurt. Yeah, it would hurt China. So he's like, hey, I got this thing over here that I can ignore and, you know, not like you said, and not be a headache to even try to attack it. And it'll kill you guys. But if you give me a better deal, it's a win-win for both of us. Oh, just throwing that. Oh, yeah. I'm going to shut up now because I don't want to be from the future. Okay. I'm just listening. Just throwing that out there. So, okay. So, so we see with Nike, we've already identified Nike as the culprit behind the NFL and the China. You know, they're the big player. And their biggest player is Mr.

1:01:25 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 and 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 is 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.

1:02:11 Man, kids' hearts are going to break all across the country. So this is a they did a whole campaign with LeBron James. This was a five-minute video on YouTube, but I think it was part of a longer video for the campaign. He actually did a world tour. And on that world tour, he stopped in Beijing. And in that five-minute video, he spoke with this young Chinese girl. Now, Adam, I know you are multilingual. Yeah. Okay. Brush up on my Mandarin. Yes. So I want to see if you can guess the translation on this next clip.

1:02:54 Oh, so this is an Ask Adam. Is that what you're doing here? Yes. Let me get my jingle. Hold on. Oh, it's easy. LeBron is the man. I heard it right there. Damn, you are so close. I knew I 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.

1:03:36 Now, go back to the question I asked you before. If LeBron James come, 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. He can't understand. Of course. The Chinese understands what's at risk here. Yeah. They understand the power of propaganda and athletes being used for propaganda. But as you know, part of this show is about history.

1:04:17 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 Schmelling arrived in New York aboard the German liner, the Bremen, for his second bout against the world heavyweight champion, Joe Lewis. 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.

1:05:00 In fact, the Nazi press was appalled at the extent to which the American press were turning Schmelling into a Nazi. It was creating anti-German feeling unnecessarily. And this was not, I mean, to put it into a context, this is not what Hitler wanted. Even the White House got involved. Franklin D. Roosevelt had maintained a regular correspondence with Max Schmelling 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 like to slap his muscles of mine and said, We need muscles like this to defeat Nazi Germany.

1:05:50 This was in 1938, three years, three and a half years before we entered the war. But the atmosphere was very much that. Max Schmelling 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 Schmelling 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.

1:06:35 There's a whole bunch of different things. But I didn't know this about Joe. Yeah, Joe Lewis was. I know what he did for American hero. I know he integrated. He desegregated golf. I know that. That'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 flag. Right. Right. Right. Because they wanted to use him because Joe Lewis went around. He did exposure. He actually joined the military, did exhibition fights, and donated his purses to the troops. And here's the kicking ass, though, Adam.

1:07:20 He did all of that. And the RS charged him and ruined him over the money that he won and donated the purses to the military. Really? Because what happened was the checks were made out to him. He takes it, signs the check over to the military charities or whatever. But he had to pay taxes. But the RS counted it as his right. But it was money he never had. And it actually ruined him. Yeah. And he's in his in his life. And then, so, yeah, so that was just a little note in history. But he is not the only one. Do you know of Jesse Owens? Jesse Owens the Runner?

1:08:05 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. No, 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 Olympic Games in was it Munich? No. Yeah, it was at the Black Monday. Berlin. Berlin. Berlin. Berlin. It was actually in Germany. Yeah. In front of Hitler. That was why made it so iconic. But I mean, him being. Hey, look at America. Hey, send a black guy over there, man. You never know. It's right. Nobody was in him. It's Hitler.

1:08:45 It's Hitler. Let him go. Right. So American-wise ass, 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 the secret weapon in the 36 games. 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 Adolph II, not Adolph, like two Adolph as well.

1:09:31 Anyway, his name was Adolph Dosler, and he just wanted 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. And at night, when everybody would go to sleep, Adolph Dosler, him and his brother would sit in the kitchen. He would cook up a batch of track shoes. This is before you could like cook up meth. So Adolph Dosler, he and his brother, they're in the shoe business, and they know they need somebody famous to wear their shoes to get more people to buy them. So Adolph Dosler gets in his truck and he drives down to Berlin and he introduces himself to Jesse Owens. He's like, hey, Jesse, my name is Adolph. And if you would wear my truck shoes, I'd be very, very happy. And you don't even have to call me Adolph. All my good friends call me Adi. That's my nickname, Adi, Adi Dasla.

1:10:16 In fact, if the company goes, we're not going to call it Adi Dasla. We're going to tighten that up, just call it Adi Das. 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, I guess. It's all about the shoes, baby. Wow. Mo, I'm just going to do it. Ring my bell for you, man. Nice. We have the origin of shoe endorsements going back to 1936. Yes. How did you find out about that? I knew about Jesse Owens, but I also learned that.

1:10:57 And I learned it while doing this show. And we see China understands. And 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 you know as symbols of freedom of democracy our people look at uh what was the exact quote the girl let me get her exact words oh she says for for most fans he's a real leader the key word is real leader oh yes yes yes yes so if you let a lebron james and and 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 in a live game in china and say hey these guys suck their government's no good jeez a douche and the people would probably do something about it at least the young ones yeah it would it would it would call a real fissure yes and and their and their uh 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 it which is the reason why they were hyper aggressive like i said it's bigger than the money the money is one thing that's not that's not you know saying we're not let's not poo-poo uh the money that's why i said this story has so many levels to it yeah you have the money you have the political implications you have the propaganda

1:12:45 implications but with all that said we go back to the hypocrisy because there was a uh what's the lady names from fox uh i know her name just is clear as day the blonde lady uh laura ingraham laura ingraham she had a back and forth but yeah she had a back and forth with uh lebron prior to this situation where she told him to shut up and dribble and it was so much to make made about it he actually created a whole production a television show with the same name called shut up and dribble

1:13:32 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 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 talked to the media before or after

1:14:17 the game. As a result, 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 a million-plus people in concentration camps right now.

1:14:53 He shut up and dribbled in a country of 1.4 billion where they don't have 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 kneel 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.

1:15:42 I wish that guy wouldn't hold back. He's sugarcoating it so much. So this is Klay Travis. He's a frequent correspondent on Fox Sports News, but this was on his own personal podcast. And this is an example of the hypocrisy coming back to bite LeBron James in the ass with the shut up and dribble. Yep. He's waiting for Wednesday. He's just waiting for it to blow over. So this is to be expected because this is Clay Travis is left or right-leaning. You know, so that is to be expected because they're going to politicize it as they should

1:16:27 when you're in that business. But 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 Jamel Hill. Oh, from ESPN, the one who hates Trump. So I caught a clip of Miss Jamal Hill being interviewed on CNN. Bring in the Atlantic's Jamal 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 the stomach to fight for certain values when doing so compromises business, unquote.

1:17:12 Jamal, an honor to have you here. Thanks so much. How do you think the NBA and Silver are handling this test? 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 Daryl Morey's tweet as regrettable, it really raised a lot of eyebrows. I mean, here's 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 to seemingly back away and distance itself from one of its employees when it's kind of built that reputation, it was very eye-opening to a lot of people.

1:17:48 And it looked as if the NBA was just content to kind of kneel to China so as not to affect business and forgetting about, and they forgot about the fact that, you know, they have players and coaches and other league personnel that they've allowed to be vocal on a number of political topics. So it would be very hypocritical for the NBA to all of a sudden abandon those principles. Wait a minute. Does Jamel Hill still work for ESPN, i.e., Disney? No, she doesn't. Oh, okay. That's why. So she has an axe to grind. She has an axe to grind. I'm kidding. No kidding. Yeah, well, she's right. She is right. And it's like, oh, as people say in common slang, more recent slang, keep the same energy.

1:18:32 And what that means is if you're going to be an outrage 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. James himself said, I won't allow myself to be put in a box. Well, you have been put in a box. The NBA silenced you. Yep. They silenced you. You can't make, I'm sure it's an unofficial gag order on NBA players. You know what I'm saying? Oh, no, make a statement. Yeah, no doubt. Be quiet. You like your check? Shut up. But who's going to be the Colin Kaepernick of the NBA? That's the question.

1:19:12 I mean, if you guys are so willing to stand up for what's right, what you consider what's right, who's going to 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. Yeah. I'm sure the Nike connection went, you know, because Nike is super woke. That's their brand. That's a big part of what they do. And they clearly were supporting him. So there was probably some conflict there that we didn't even think about at the time.

1:19:50 It was a weird conflict because the NFL really didn't make a statement when they signed Colin Kaepernick to their 20, I think it was 20-year just do it campaign. Right. Exactly. They didn't really say anything. They didn't say, oh, we're going to pull or threaten to pull. No, no, no. The sports leagues are at the behest of Nike. Yep. I mean, let's just be clear about that. But Jamal 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.

1:20:31 Keep in mind, Jake, that this is the same 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's a different expectation for them. Oh, I love that. Social justice brand. And social responsibility.

1:21:13 Hold on. Let me write that down. Social response. Yeah, that's good. Well, you know, go ahead. They put theirself in a serious box here, and they're just seeming disingenuous. Their actions that they're taking late and they won't go all the way and fire Dale Maury is not making their Chinese fans happy. The fact that they won't let their players say anything are not making their liberal fans happy. And I'm sure the NBA would wish this all would just go away and something would take, you're saying, take the attention away. But no, not as long as, like I said, not as long as politicians can politicize this. And I think it mentioned it in one clip before. You had AOC and Ted Cruz working together.

1:21:58 Yes. So, I mean, it's just this, we're in a weird. Well, you know, you know, this fits one of my rules perfectly. And it's the Adam Curry media boomerang rule. And I've observed this. I've witnessed this for 35 years. When you use the media 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.

1:22:38 Not necessarily immediately. It could be years down the road, but it's just the nature of media that if you're using it, it'll turn around and bite you. It's a very fickle lover. And we see that often. Yes. So let's hear Jamal Hill wrap up her take on the NBA. It's 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. And very quickly, if you could, LeBron James is in China right now.

1:23:16 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 Darryl Maury tweet. If you're LeBron James and you also are an empire unto yourself, I would not be surprised if he were quiet. Now, what does that mean for somebody who has this entire campaign called More Than an Athlete? 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? Anything. Could turn up the heat on the impeachment.

1:23:58 Something. I mean, and what's crazy is we're about to kick off the NBA season here in another week or so. Oh, so it's just going to be, we're right at the, that's why they were doing this China tour for the preseason. It just looks better. So now, before we get into this last segment of the show, why would Daryl Moray 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 to, you know, there was some understanding with the Houston Rockets organization and the Chinese culture.

1:24:43 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. Why would you, why? That's the dumbest thing you could do working for the NBA. I mean, like the dumbest. Well, the only thing I can imagine is he got a call from the president. He 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.

1:25:30 When you think about it, it's an $8 billion. I mean, it's an $8 billion league. What's a couple billion dollars to write a check for the government to write a check to the NBA to get them out of bed with China? Oh, man. I have no idea. Well, it's not that much money. It's not, 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. There's a lot deeper than I realize. And maybe people will have a little more clarity before they start worshiping sports heroes.

1:26:10 But in general, I think the idea is, certainly from my perspective, I'd love to, can we get along with China? I mean, you know, hey, we kill people who we have capital punishment. We do all kinds of stuff. Look from the outside, it could look weird. You know, 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 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 fall hat on, still got it on.

1:26:51 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 to use this for a distractionary tool for both sides, China and America? Hey, let's talk about the NBA because I'm sure all the deals that China made, I mean, I'm going way out of the world. Yeah, don't look at what we're doing with 5G and possible spy networks being created. NBA. Right. Yeah, possible. I haven't heard anything. 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 their, you know, now they're using the convenient thing. That's way above their pay grade. And they're showing and talk about topics that they're educated about, right? So we're going to do this little exercise here, Adam. All right. What were some of the things that the Trump administration and people around Trump have been criticized by the liberals? Well, I mean, you got to push me in the right direction. The memes. Just name some of the top memes.

1:28:21 Well, first of all, the president is not presidential. Nah. But that's not what you're looking for. You need to prod me along here. I'm not following. Okay. On the border. border. What was the meme? Oh, we're putting children in cages. 26. 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?

1:29:01 Actually, it's not what you think, unless what you're thinking is exactly what I'm 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 countrysides to find work in the cities as migrant workers, and so their children are left behind. Some parents only make it home about two or three times a year. You know how travel in China becomes a nightmare during the Chinese New Year? This is why. It's one of the few times a year people actually make it home.

1:29:38 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 Grant. 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 list's Karen Chang recently did a story about babies for sale in China. And the U.S. just today released a statement saying China's human trafficking is among the worst in the world, right next to Iran and North Korea and Russia. U.S. Representative Chris Smith said, quote, China has become the sex and labor trafficking capital of the world.

1:30:19 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 that would ever air, would it? No, that was a podcast. Okay, well, bingo boom shakalaka. So, and not only, and what we're saying here is this: if you're going to be super woke, and what we're doing is 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're going to be critical, do you have to keep that same energy?

1:31:04 That's what I'm saying. So, if you criticize, if you criticize America, I mean, 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 it may, 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's nuances to what kind of cages they keep them in in China. But, yeah, what we're doing is meme, we're doing meme wars now. Yeah, I got you. The meme is clear. Yep. This is memes here. Okay, so also on immigration, we've talked about immigrants being second-class citizens.

1:31:44 Let's go to 28. Fan Jong-mei 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 to transforming China in the last 30 years.

1:32:24 Oh, there's your dreamers, your DACA kids. Yep. This is, you know, the more different we seem, the more alike we are, isn't it? That's the whole point of this exercise, sir. 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. Or if you want to say across an imaginary line. 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.

1:33:07 Mike Pence. Why were people dancing outside of Mike Pence's house for Adam? Which time? When he first got elected, what was he being accused of by a certain community? Well, he's a gay hater and he is all for conversion therapy. 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, a China Queer, is examining what it's like to be gay in China and how activists are working for change.

1:33:48 Here's a preview. Achieving 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 seven-hour train to the small city of Jumadian. On arrival, A 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. Yoohoo told the hospital doctor that he was being kept against his will and he wanted to leave. 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.

1:34:32 Wow. That's plenty to stand up against. And when you take those dollars, NBA players. Yep. NBA, let me clarify. NBA super woke players that want to make virtue signal. That's what we're talking to here. You're being the ultimate hypocrite. And that's all I'm saying here. I mean, honestly, if you just want to play basketball, go home, cash your check, enjoy life, I believe that you're right. But when you throw your, like you said, when you throw that boomerang, this is how it comes back and hits you. And it's so interesting that Fox is doing this.

1:35:13 And I think, as you eloquently explained earlier, they will have to stop because 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 there's some diversity in 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 going to close because I don't think they have it in them. I don't think they have the balls to be even a little less hypocritical. And it just doesn't fit the model. And the media companies are also tied in.

1:35:55 You know, the movie companies. Like I said, we just pulled back a little edge of the rug of really the bigger problem. Like I said, the movie companies, the video game companies, even fast food industries. All of these are in bed with this, lack of a better word, communist regime. Yes. But, okay. Go ahead. 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. I mean, you can look it up.

1:36:37 There's so much money flowing through K Street, you know, where the lobbyists are. And it's, look, 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 would, and man, how many times I've heard coaches complain about the players being on Twitter and it being distraction, getting actually affecting their playing. Now it could affect the whole organization or multiple organizations. I'm glad you did this show, Mo. This is very good. No, I mean,

1:37:17 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 this is this, it'll 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 to watch it, you're saying, and I like sports, but I don't want to mix the two together. Right. Because sports is an escape.

1:38:00 It's an escape from everyday life. And that's why you get such a pushback. Now, we're at the tail end of this exercise. The last thing America and its 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.

1:38:39 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. 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 a vow 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.

1:39:18 But it wasn't until a China news blog saying highest wrote about it on Thursday that the video began to attract global attention. So is the ad offensive? You decide. The ad opens with this black painter with his face and shirt smeared with paint, birding 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. Oh, can we see that video somewhere? Is that available? Yes,

1:40:02 it's all YouTube. I'll tweet it out. I like that. So then basically, but it's a confluence here because we also have kind of like the eating Tide Pods in there. You know, you throw the Tide Pod, the liquid gel ball in his mouth. Yes. Throws him in a washing machine. He comes out as an Asian man. That definitely wouldn't fly here in America. That's great. So, and finally, the biggest faux pas and racism, if there is one, is blackface. Yes. Would you think is that considered racist, Adam?

1:40:42 What? If someone's walking around in blackface in the United States, yeah, definitely. Definitely. Yeah, sure. Probably everywhere. But yeah, of course, it's if it's literally blackface, as in the Al Jolson minstrel show, yeah, super racist. Dirty, 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. There's been a lot of people talking about this around the world today. This is the Spring Festival Gala on CC TV. It's an annual variety show to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

1:41:22 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 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.

1:42:00 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 people are racist. This is very true. Go ahead. Well, no, it's, but yeah, I don't think that is appropriate anymore in the 21st century. No, of course not. The same as, you know, we don't do caricatures of Chinese with the pointy rice hat on and ching chong. You know, we don't do that either. Right, because it's racially insensitive. Yeah.

1:42:39 Yeah. If the super woke NBA players want to, you know, address anything, be consistent. If you want to go to, you know, if you want to go come here, you know, and call out things when you go there, call out the same identical exact things that are happening there. Well, but they won't. I was going to say, Mo, 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,

1:43:18 may just keep that on the radar. if it's advantageous to what he's doing. If he needs a distraction, yeah, or negotiations. It's going to become cyclical because it's going to be like, oh, yeah, what about the NBA over there? You know, I mean, it's this is what you do. Yeah. This is what you do. And like I said, it's just, I brought, it's a fascinating story. A fascinating story because it has so many layers. And as we see, as history, it repeats itself. And no matter what the group of people it is, the elite are the same and they take advantage of the lower classes the same way.

1:44:02 I think that's the synopsis of the 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 that's anything anyone who loves basketball or any other sport really wants to do. I think they would like this to go away.

1:44:48 But I think it's very important for children, Chinese, American, or otherwise, who idolize these players to be hopefully educated and subsequently aware that these may be false prophets and who they're really worshiping 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 and your time with it. And that's a real, that's a real way you could impact things. Yeah, meanwhile, go spurs.

1:45:32 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-EfundMe.com. And we'll talk to you next Monday, everybody. Bye-bye. Jim Jesus.