Senator Hawley Criticizes NBA for Failing to Take a Stance on China

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) speaks during the Senate Small Business and Entrepreneurship Hearings on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 10, 2020. Al Drago/AFP via Getty Images

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) is calling on NBA commissioner Adam Silver to testify before Congress, after the basketball league stayed silent on a question from the senator regarding its stance on whether NBA players and employees can freely speak out against communist China.

In a letter Hawley sent to Silver on July 10, he questioned why the NBA’s list of approved political messages that players could wear on their jerseys included social justice slogans, but phrases supporting victims of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) were “conspicuously missing.”