on friday daryl morey tweeted this image that says quote fight for freedom stand with hong kong maury later deleted the tweet and affirmed his appreciation for chinese fans, but a number of chinese businesses spend it i with the houston rockets, including state-run broadcaster cctv sports channel ten's in sports and the chinese basketball association which is chaired by former rockets star yao ming in a statement, the nba said quote we recognize that the views expressed by houston rockets general manager daryl morey have deeply offended

we're looking at daryl morey. the houston rockets gm. we'll talk about that story as well. a really big deal between the nba future growth, two countries, the second-biggest economy in the world, massive. >> china businessmen suspending ties with the houston rockets over that supportive tweet for hong kong protesters. new markets or profit? or do you want american values? >> not just profit, billions of dollars. lebron james the face of the nba in china today. >> i'm christine romans. >> i'm dave briggs. 5:00 a.m. in the east. we start in the nation's capital. the big day ahead in the democrats' impeachment inquiry prompted by a whistle-blower's accusation that president trump pressured ukraine to dig up dirt on the biden family in exchange for military aid. >> in just a few hours the u.s. ambassador to the european union, gordon sondland, will testify behind closed doors to three house committees -- intelligence, foreign affairs, oversight. sondland was mentioned in the whistle-blow whistle-blower's complaint and game attention in text messages released by the house democr

it started with a tweet from houston rockets general manager daryl morey that read "fight for freedom hong kong." that tweet prompted swift backlash from the chinese government and chinese business partners who pulled their money from the rockets. rockets owner tilman fertitta tweeted that morey didn't speak on behalf of the team. the n.b.a., which has spent years trying to develop its business in china, called morey's tweet "regrettable." morey went on to delete that original tweet and posted an apology, saying: "i did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to rockets fans and friends of mine in china..." mike pesca is the host of slate magazine's podcast "the gist" and author of "upon further review: the greatest what-ifs in sports history." he joins me now. mike pesca, welcome to the "newshour". let's start with that n.b.a. statement. you tweeted calling it cowardly. adam silver is obviously being very careful with the language he's using. why do you think thn.b.a. is reacting the way that they are? >> well, yes, it's cowardly and shocking because, so far, adam silver in his tenu

daryl morey is right. when you see something going wrong in the world, you need to say, that's not right. >> we don't get to impress our values on other countries. the regions that my family was from. greater details. richer stories. and now with health insights. get your dna kit at ancestry.com. esper has landed in baghdad. his stop at the capital has happened. he addressed the future of those troops with cnn's christiaristi amanpo amanpour. >> he says, welcome to come across the border but only on the way out. he doesn't anticipate your troops staying there. >> we anticipate a deliberate withdrawal in northeast syria, temporarily position in iraq. eventually those troops are going to come home. >> so they are coming home. >> they will come home. >> esper said some could say in the southern part of syria while others could stay to deny isis key oil fields. russia and turkey have reached a deal to remove fighters at the borders. cnn's jomana karadsheh along the border. jomana? >> reporter: it's going to be

. >> daryl morey is right.never you see something going on wrong in the world, you have the right to say that's not right. >> we don't get to impress our values on other countries. - in the last year, there were three victims of cybercrime every second. when a criminal has your personal information, they can do all sorts of things in your name. criminals can use ransomware, spyware, or malware to gain access to information like your name, your birthday, and even your social security number. - [announcer] that's why norton and lifelock are now part of one company, providing an all in one membership for your cyber safety that gives you identify theft protection, device security, a vpn for online privacy, and more. and if you have an identity theft problem, we'll work to fix it with our million dollar protection package. - there are new cyber threats out there everyday, so protecting yourself isn't a one time job, it's an ongoing need. now is the time to make sure that you have the right plan in place. don't wait.

statement saying daryl morey's comments regrettable, cruz saying, we are better for this, human rights be for sale. the n.b.a. shouldn't be assisting censorship. 2020 democratic candidate julian castro spoke out against china, saying, xhiena is using economic power to silence critics, even those in the u.s. it is important to note, joe cy, e-commerce alibaba, says daryl morey's initial tweet will take a long time to repair. lakers and nets are in china playing this week. shep. >> shepard: trace, thank you. i mentioned president trump was to speak 3:30 eastern time, about 14 minutes or so ago. all these folks have been standing there for better part of last 20 to 25 minutes while they wait to see the president come in, sign this agreement with japan and then we expect it is often the president takes questions or mentions news of the day. that would be something worse seeing. we'll see when it happens. while we wait, could genes determine how likely you are to become a drug addict? that is what researchers in ohio are trying to figure out, we'll speak with the state attorney general who

it follows a dispute sparked earlier this month when houston rockets' manager daryl morey tweeted supporttesters in hong kong. monica miller is in our singapore burueau. yes, well, some 800 million fans in china were really disappointed today. that first game between the reigning champions toronto raptors and the new orleans pelicans was blacked out, as you said, on the state—run television. however, chinese online giant tencent did televise the next game. lebronjames has come out in support of the chinese in this protest debate in hong kong. this all started when houston rockets coach daryl morey sent a tweet in support of the hong kong pro—democracy supporters and his comments unleashed a wave of anger in china. basketball legend shakeel 0'neill earlier today came out in support of daryl morey, saying he has a right to free speech. monica, thank you, good to see you again. let's talk you quickly through how financial markets fared earlier in asia. a bit of a mixed day, that is the night before on wall street. everyone is keeping their eye on politics, us china trade discussions but brex

daryl morey, the nba executive who kicked this whole thing off did not formally apologise. over to china to sell their sneakers. obviously, china buys a lot ofjerseys as well, there‘s tons of ties between nike, adidas, their athletes and china. and then of course, a lot of times, you know, after — players are getting ready to wind down their careers, they can go have a second career in china and become big stars over there as well. so it‘s clear that the chinese market loves nba basketball, they love the game and i do think eventually this will get sorted out. but right now they‘re in a staring contest because the nba has stood up for their executive, daryl morey, and his freedom of speech, and china has made it very clear through the cctv and the national television network that they don‘t believe he had the right to speak on the issues that he spoke on with regard to hong kong. now, just imagine if yourjob was to explore the earth‘s final frontier. that‘s the case forjill heinerth, one of the world‘s most famous cave divers. she‘s the first person in history to dive deep

after the general manager for the houston rockets daryl morey treated in support of antigovernment protests in hong kong and even though more a deleted in street and said it did not represent the n.b.a.'s views or his team's feelies his actions have angered not just the chinese government but also fans and business partners of the rockets who had severed all suspended ties with the n.b.a. no this controversy doesn't even look like it's going to end any time soon basketball legend shaquille o'neal has become the latest person to wade into the feud he spoke out in support of daryl morey when he spoke to t.n.t. an american paid television network basically saying that anyone should have the right to speak out when they see something wrong going on anywhere in the world or you can only imagine how his comments are going to go down here in china but basketball fans were still able to catch one of the 2 matches live on chinese digital platforms and then which holds the right to live streams the n.b.a. is changed down some people however were not in favor of $0.10 decision calling for a boycott of

in smoke, furor growing over his response to this tweet sent by houston rockets general manager daryl morey earlier this month in apparent support of anti-government protesters >> i don't want to get into a feud with daryl morey, but i believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand. >> reporter: those comments setting off a political brushfire here at home republican senators quick to pounce rick scott of florida writing clearly king james is the one who isn't educated on the situation. nebraska's ben sasse, you're parroting communist propaganda china is running torture camps, and you know it. >> drink it. >> reporter: the league's most bankable brand and the nba have a lot riding on the chinese market billions of dollars in shoe sales and entertainment. >> as somebody who advocates for social justice, that he has got to find a better way to express what he's feeling, because it makes him look very craven it makes him look like he just cares about the money. >> reporter: james and his teammates recently returned from a trip to china with controversy hanging in the air he tweeted, "my t

the general manager of the houston rockets, daryl morey, tweeted out his support for the protestersn hong kong. although he swiftly apologize, china's government reacted furiously and stopped preseason games fromppeing shown. nba commissioner adam silver expressed regret for chinese fans who were offended, but stood by mr. morey's right to express his views. adam: the long-held values of the nba are to support freedom of expression, and certainly freedom of expression by members of the nba community. in this case, daryl morey as the manager of the houston rockets enjoys that right as one of our employees. laura: a brief time ago i discussed all of this with ian bremmer, president of the eurasia group. thanks so much for joining us. what does the standoff between the nba and china say about the price of doing business in china for u.s. brands? ian: it is going up. the chinese are stronger than they used to be, they are a much bigger economy, so the benefits of getting business right are significant,ut they are much more rigid and much less flex, partularly on anything that they think

daryl morey issued a new statement of his own.ve voiced concern, worried china is using its economic power to silence its critics. to try to gag a general manager or anybody who is speaking out in favour of the hong kong protesters is wrong, and i hope that basketball will understand that. it's un—american to gag people when they are speaking out on behalf of freedom. the rockets are in japan for a pre—season friendly, but this row over free speech and chinese commercial might is threatening to overs ha d ow commercial might is threatening to overshadow any action on the stay with us on bbc news. still to come: new zealand marks 250 years since british explorer captain cook landed, and the first encounter between maori and europeans. this was a celebration by people who were relishing their freedom. they believe everything's going to be different from now on. they think their country will be respected in the world once more as it used to be before slobodan milosevic took power. the dalai lama, the exiled spiritual leader of tibet,

about the protests in hong kong has sparked a political firestorm houston rockets general manager daryl morey is apologized after posting an image saying fight for freedom stand with hong kong his comments angered many of the team's chinese friends and some chinese businesses cut ties with the rockets some say the electronics is an els dramatically reduce profits which industry analysts say could be due to weaker demand for its mobile devices profits for the 3rd quarter were cut by more than a half a year ago the south korean company is expected to report final results later this month right you're up to date coming up next is the stream. with a record number of nominations the world waits to see 2019 peace prize the nobel committee will announce the winner. al-jazeera has been awarded exclusive international rights to interview the winner to be awards or. the nobel prize announces era. welcome to the stream we are used to seeing romancing sitcom shows but they need us seriousness breaking the mold 5 placing a nigerian immigrant woman at the heart of the story and family attack today we meet

daryl morey came out in favor of pro-democracy protesters in hong kong there.ial comment from lebron james understandably raising a lot of eyebrows. >> i think the initial comment from lebron james was off base and he had to take to twitter to clarify. i'm pretty sure what he was attempting to say is that the tweet did not give consideration to those on the ground in china playing preseason basketball games. i still am not sure that's the ledge you want to be on if you're lebron james. i want to take a step back for a minute. i think all of these players, what we're seeing is all of these players have to be educated about the injustices around the world. the nba is considered to be more woke than any other sports entity but these players have to understand an injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere and that it is okay to let your pockets take a small hit to speak out for what is right, which is to be on the side of the hong kong protesters. i don't think that that is -- i think more players once they understand the issue will begin to speak out. >>

. >> the scandal all started when rockets general manager daryl morey tweeted solidarity with the hongrs. the response from chinese officials was swift and strong, suspending all cooperation with the team while state tv and streaming services announced they won't air any preseason games in china. msnbc host stephanie ruhle has been doing some reporting on this, speaking to owners, others involved with the league. as you were saying, everybody comes out of this as a loser. there say huge principle at stake for everyone. >> huge principle and huge dollars. china also reminded us of who they are. daryl morey is not the team, he's not even a famous player, and look how china responds, one single tweet saying i'm pro democracy and i stand with hong kong, and they're building tens of millions of dollars of sponsorships, possibly billions of dollars of tv rights, and now adam silver is getting criticized from china for not being tough enough on morey. they're saying, you don't support freedom of expression if it goes against your government. what, that's the new line? if that's the new line,

of an american basketball team about those protests in hong kong houston rockets general manager daryl morey has apologized after posting an image thing fight for freedom stand with hong kong and response some chinese businesses have cut ties with the rockets from matheson has the view from beijing. the overwhelming response on chinese social media to what's been happening in the united states has predominantly being that they love the n.b.a. they love basketball but they love china more busker ball is the number one sport in china it's eclipsed even the football china back in august hosted the basketball world cup and there are 2 n.b.a. matches that are being held in china this month one of which is in shenzhen one of which is shanghai and one of them is featuring the l.a. lakers but the industry itself in china is enormous as well kids buy basketball jerseys basketball shoes bags anything branded with the n.b.a. and anything to do with basketball one of the reasons for its popularity is actually the time difference between the united states when the games are broadcast and when the games a

about those protests in hong kong has sparked political fallout houston rockets general manager daryl moreyhas apologized after posting an image saying fight for freedom and stand with hong kong his comments angered many of the team's chinese fans and some chinese businesses have also cut ties with the rockets but the pressure from china has also sparked a rebuke from u.s. politicians as a time when trade ties are already tense look at the people of hong kong large protesting for something we fortunately have here in america which is freedom as vs this country symbolized by the statue of liberty to try to gary. a general manager or anybody who is speaking out in favor of the hong kong protester is wrong and i hope that basketball will understand that it's un-american to gag the people when they're speaking out on behalf of freedom. and our correspondent rob about this and has more from beijing. the overwhelming response on chinese social media to what's been happening in the united states has predominantly being that they love the n.b.a. they love basketball but they love china more basketb

and if we look at daryl morey's tweet which was an image and caption that was pro-democracy, what we'renybody else asked to comment, if you saw how a tweet that was deleted rather quickly can cause this kind of incident, i'm not surprised there was a no comment. it is just surprising considering this is the 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. we ome 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 they're looking at what happened as a result of this daryl morey tweet. if you are 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, i don't know. >> jemele hill, thank you so much. our coverage on cnn continues right now. thanks for watching. we'll see

and they 12 hours after the general manager daryl morey tweeted in support of hong kong pro-democracynt was flooded with comments from pro-chinese government accounts that mention his name 16,000 times. experts don't think it was a robotic activity or bots, instead they believe these were humans otherwise known as a troll mob. here is the key come experts are 22% of the tweets came from accounts with zero followers. 50% of the accounts had fewer than 13 fall the worse and more than 4,800 users had never tweeted before they responded to daryl moore. meaning, this is appearing to be an orchestrated activity by groups that control a large number of accounts. twitter is banned in china. you can get it with a private network, but experts believe the chinese government is propagating this activity. the goal is to swarm someone's account and then screen them into silence and it worked. daryl morey quickly realized he struck a nerve and that's when he issued his apology tweet, but get this, his apology generated more than four times the response that has original tweet. there were nearly 170,

it was the hewn rockets' daryl morey who posted the tweet now deleted last week. we have posters from the games starting to be taken down. probably a real question mark as to whether these preseason games in china are going to go ahead at all even though adam silver is in china trying to smooth over it. it's caught all around the hong kong protests. the protesters have many faceless leaders with different aims, none of it is independence. it's not going away any time soon. >> alex, thank you so much for that. whether it's airlines, retailers, hotel companies, they have all caved, caved, caved for this big market. so watching adam silver watching this. >> a $4 billion relationship with to he a. >>> drivers in california paying way more at the pump than in the country. what's going on in california. we have the details next on why that's spiked. that's next. tremfya® helps adults with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis get clearer. and tremfya® was proven superior to humira® in providing significantly clearer skin. don't use if you're allergic to tremfya®. tremfya®

the grovelling apology comes after the team's general manager daryl morey tweeted support for the protests in hong kong has since deleted the tweet and said that he did not intend to cause offense humble words that show the importance of chinese money to the n.b.a. but they came too late to prevent sponsors like the sportswear company laning and shanghai based s.p.d. bank from cutting ties with the rockets china's state broadcaster has announced it will no longer show rockets games and the chinese basketball association says it's ending its relationship with the club so should the houston rockets are largely responsible for china's interest in the sport which took a large stride forward when they signed local boy missing in 2002 now the market that is worth billions to the n.b.a. . last season more than half a 1000000000 chinese fans watched n.b.a. matches through the online platform 10 sent each of us is a potential buyer of merchandise and tickets this week the brooklyn nets are playing the l.a. lakers in china the nets own by chinese billionaire joseph side the co-founder of web titan a

go there you know was twice a year the grovelling apology came after the team's general manager daryl morey tweeted support for the protests in hong kong he quickly deleted the tweet and said he didn't intend to cause offense humble words that underline the importance of chinese money to be in b.s.a. china's state broadcaster announced it would no longer show rockets games and the chinese basketball association says it's ending its relationship with the club the houston rockets and largely responsible for china's interest in the sport which took a large stride forward when they signed local boy ya meaning in 2002 now the market there is worth billions to the association. last year more than half a 1000000000 chinese fans watched n.b.a. matches h.q.'s is a potential buyer of merchandise and tickets just last weekend the brooklyn nets play the l.a. lakers in china the nets are owned by chinese billionaire joseph sinai the co-founder of web titan ali baba for his pond he said the damage from the pro protest tweets would take quote a long time to repair. and le bron james doris added another la

commissioner adam silver declined to apologize for the houston rockets general manager daryl morey tweets which supported the hong kong protesters. the long held values of the n.b.a. are to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the n.b.a. community and in this case there are more as the general manager of the houston rockets enjoys that right as one of our employees business magazine fulp says n.b.a. china is worth more than full $1000000000.00 and there are more basketball fans in china as well than in the u.s. meaning both sides have plenty to lose from a protracted fight thing in asia the hong kong stock exchange dropped its unsolicited bid for the london boards on tuesday it had offered $39000000000.00 u.s. dollars for the l.s.e. group and a surprise approach made last month. in a statement the hong kong exchange said it was disappointed that it was unable to engage with the management of the l.s.e. the offer had threatened to up in the elysees own $27000000000.00 plan to buy data and analytics company refine it is. a saying in asia samsung el

but a tweet by houston rockets executive daryl morey, which supported the political protests in hongstate tv saying they won't air two exhibition games in the country this week. morey has since apologised but the chinese government, the fans, and the team's partners aren't happy, after a loss of money and publicity. here's what nba commissioner adam silver had to say. we are not apologising for exercising freedom of expression. i regret again having communicated directly again with many friends in china that so many people are upset, including millions and millions of oui’ including millions and millions of ourfans. including millions and millions of our fans. what i including millions and millions of ourfans. what i said and including millions and millions of our fans. what i said and that statement is the long held values of the nba, to support freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression and certainly freedom of expression by members of the nba community. sojust how big of an impact will this have on the nba? earlier we spoke to simon chadwick, professor of sports ent

>> well, but he stood up for daryl morey's, what he said. the freedom of expression is what he supported and everything. that he has a right to do that. yes, there are consequences and unfortunately adam is at the forefront of dealing with those consequences right now but i think, you know, the thing about the players that you brought up, you know, it is disappointing that they would support a communist form of government. i mean these people in hong kong clearly are looking down the road to 2047 when they don't have a lot of the freedoms that, they won't have a lot of freedoms in 2047 that they do currently and they're resistant to that. it is no different than what we did, maybe in 1776. yeah, kind of disappointing they haven't spoken out but, you know, they want to sell shoes. they want to be popular. i think, with the chinese government shutting off some of these games and threatening the nba, the nba is a 10 billion-dollar a year enterprise. certainly a big market in china. there is 300 million kids playing basketball in china. but i th

earlier this month, the manager of the houston rockets, daryl morey, tweeted support for pro—democracytook nba games off the air. basketball is china‘s top sport, and the nba is hugely popular, with around 800 million fans. renault has further cut its financial forecasts for this year, saying sales will drop 3—4% because of difficulties in markets such as turkey and argentina. the french car giant has been reshuffling its top management, ousting ceo thierry bollore last week as it tries to draw a line under the scandal surrounding former boss carlos ghosn. carmakers around the world are also struggling with a broad—based slump in auto sales. and now, what‘s trending in the business news this morning? on business insider — martin luther king‘s daughter slams mark zuckerberg for invoking the civil rights movement. zuckerberg gave a speech arguing facebook is a vital tool for freedom of expression. bernice king says disinformation created the atmosphere that led to mlk‘s 1968 assassination. bloomberg tells how the world‘s longest flight aims to beat the curse ofjet lag. qantas will ditch

it makes sense that daryl morey spoke up. the gm. the most entrenched in china, it's houston. i understand lebron's messaging. it was sloppy and horrible and there's a firestorm from it. he was basically saying wait a week. you're in japan. there are guys that are still in china. he was trying to say that i think, that i understand the censorship. they could knock on the door and hold our guys hostage because of how dictatorial china is. i see that element. i think as citizens and patriots, the one thing that we can export is liberty and freedom. the thought that someone would be either held hostage to their business interests in china or that we don't include that in the conversation with somebody that's as fundamental as liberty, it's an issue. the final point, i was part of nfl china launch in the late 2000s which obviously failed. it totally failed. no one wanted football over there. but they love basketball. it's a big deal over there and those a lot more complicated business interests. if we have issues, let's look where our ph

we're looking at daryl morey. the houston rockets gm. we'll talk about that story as well.eally big deal between the nba future growth, two countries, the second-biggest economy in the world, massive. >> china businessmen suspending ties with the houston rockets over that supportive tweet for hong kong protesters. new markets or profit? or do you want american values? >> not just profit, billions of dollars. lebron james the face of the nba in china today. >> i'm christine romans. >> i'm d

he criticized houston rockets manager, daryl morey, for his tweet supporting the protest. chinese sponsors cut ties with the nba and they said daryl morey's support for antigovernment protesters in hong kong was misinformed or not really educated on the situation. >> i believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand. he spoke and so many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally and spiritually. be careful what we tweet and we say. >> the controversy with china could have an impact on the nba bottom line and the league visits to the country are estimated to be worth more than $4 billion. >>> today is the last day of hispanic heritage month. for the next few weeks, the celebration continues for dia de los muertos. dancing and food are part of the celebration but the focus is family and the circle of life and death. during tin23, altars remember loved ones who died. >> it has been very commodified in some sense. it's become objects and things that you can find in target and walmart. but, that's not the truth of it. the tradition is

on friday daryl morey tweeted this image that says quote fight for freedom stand with hong kong maury later deleted the tweet and affirmed his appreciation for chinese fans, but a number of chinese businesses spend it i with the houston rockets, including state-run broadcaster cctv sports channel ten's in sports and the chinese basketball association which is chaired by former rockets star yao ming in a statement, the nba said quote we recognize that the views expressed by houston rockets general manager daryl morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in china which is regrettable and star james harden said the rocket fuel of their chinese fans. basketball is big business in china. the chinese market is important. >>to the nba. they think it's their future a lot of chinese are really into basketball. according to the chinese basketball association roughly 300 million or nearly one-fifth of the people in china play basketball. but the nba may be in a no-win scenario even as it faces backlash over the weekend china it's getting pushed back in the us for how its responded t

something people could have been harmed by daryl morey expressing contempt for democracy? news flash. people are being harmed right now in hong kong by china, by the communist party the nba so eager to appease. it" he joins us in studio's amazingly tonight. senator, thanks so much for coming on. you went to hong kong. what did you see there, how did it change your view? >> i went and i saw the protest and i said i don't want to be cooped up in some hotel that i want to go out to the streets. we spent hours on the tweets on what would have been sunday night hong kong time and in what turned out to be the biggest area protest that night. i saw the police, i saw them out in force with a riot gear, establishing parameters, i saw the protesters, it's really remarkable. the number of protesters, and income a think about this. from one of the early protest, this is a city of half a million people, 2 million people in the streets. this is a protest movement that spans class divides, it spans all the people of hong kong united here standing up to communist china, standing up to bei

daryl morey was right, whenever you see something wrong going on anywhere in the world you should havesay that's not right. charles: nba hall-of-famer shaquille o'neal backing up houston rockets general manager daryl morey after coming under fire making comments protesters in hong kong. he made the comments before lebron james took to court. what is the make of this political split in one of the world's most popular sports league? i want to bring in women's forum policy patrice lee onuka. you have thoughts on this and shaquill stepping up on this, saying what he said. >> he put his size 22 feet down and made a slam-dunk. i like he stood up for free speech. he stood up for the fact you have a right to say what you believe. he called out the hypocrisy of lebron james, some of those other nba stars who are tiptoeing around china but certainly vocal opponents of president trump and vocal about things like black lives matter and police. so, you know, he called out the hypocrisy and upheld our american values. charles: what do you say to people, easy for shaq he is no longer in the league? s

for him to come out and essentially say that daryl morey was in the wrong here was very surprising for who has used his platform for very similar things. i was just very taken aback by the comments, talking about this a week ago. didn't get to hear from mayors then. lebron had a week to figure out what to say and you called him a social warrior. is he a social warrior now? >> yes, still. there's a confusion that believes because someone or an entity speaks out against something wrong that means they're always right. you can still fight for what you gleave in, fight for what's right and not make every single step correctly. you can misstep. that's allowed. all part of being human. you mentioned muhammad ali. he said racy insensitive things about his opponents. that wasn't right and admitted so later in life. just because you're a social just it warrior doesn't mean that you're flawless. >> hmm. on all of this, i know you and i have looked at the twitter page of enes kanter with the boston celtics, very outspoken on his home country of turkey and regime, president erdogan, can't go home

we have a problem with daryl morey?ou believe the people of hong kong have the right to make their own laws to govern them? >> daryl morey didn't want to get involved. he just wanted to say this a obvious. wouldn't most people agree with what he has saying? >> bill: he was saying fight for hong kong. suggest it would support the people in the streets to not be dictated by beijing and make their own laws. >> i think lebron james would say the same thing. >> i don't think he clarified anything. >> bill: it wasn't cleaned up. >> lebron james has to be careful about his tweets. people are looking to see if what he said was socially responsible. >> bill: for the nba season this will be an issue for the entire year things like this will come up. >> sandra: thanks, jared. new scrutiny targeting nbc as new reports suggest executives tried to stifle ronan farrow's reporting. howard kurtz will join us live next on all the drama. employeesn just a paycheck. you definitely want to take advantage of all the benefits you can get. 2/3

daryl morey is the general manager of the houston rockets and enjoys that right as one of our employeeswhat i also tried to suggest it is i understand that there are consequences from that exercise is in essence his freedom of speech and you know we will have to live with those consequences. >> tucker: so it's not hard to say that we support freedom against of the fastest government of china. apparently it is. steve kerr is the coach of the golden state warriors appeared on the question of american politics, you may have noticed he has no problem speaking his mind. he embraces the hard left socialist policy. he doesn't hesitate to demand stricter gun laws for the rest of us. in the words of one fawning media outlay, there are many, he speaks truth to power. all right. so what truths were he ready to speak to china? nonit turns out. not a single truth to the government of china. choosing between freedom and fascism turns out to be really confusing choice. who knows with the right answer is. it's as you pointed out, it's really above his pay grade. >> bizarre international story. a lot of

here is what james said go houston rockets gm daryl morey yesterday. >> i believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke. and so many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally, spiritually. just be careful what we tweet and what we say and what we do, yes, we do have freedom of speech, there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too. >> dana: bring in miranda devine. i want to follow-up and read to you the tweets of clarification lebron james put out. let me clear up the confusion, i do not believe there was ramifications of the tweet. my team and this league just went through a difficult week. i think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others and i believe nobody stopped to consider what could happened, could have waited a week to send it. miranda, i want your take. >> look at lebron james, money talking, he earns billion aa year from nike, not year, lifetime from nike, several hundred million from the n.b.a. nike earns $60 billion from china, just do the math. you don't earn that money with

and in this case, daryl morey as the general manager of the houston rockets enjoys that right. >> reportern when morey fired off this tweet, fight for freedom, stand with hong kong. referring to the massive protests against china in the former british colony. the tweet quickly igniting a firestorm from chinese fans and its government. the nba immediately putting out a statement saying morey's comments have deeply offended our fans in china, which is regrettable. commissioner silver now trying to smooth things over. he's headed to shanghai wednesday to watch a preseason find he's still defending morey's right to share his opinion. >> daryl's tweet has hit what i would describe as a third rail issue here in china. i understand that there are con. we will protect our employee's freedom of speech. >> reporter: in a statement the network says we are strongly dissatisfied and oppose silver's claim to support morey's rye of free expression. the nba is the number one sports league in china. they have at least 25 marketing partnerships and 200 stores there. commissioner silver has acknowledged this

this is what daryl morey, the gm of the houston rockets had the temerity to tweet.ight for freedom, stand with hong kong. oh, my, right? so the controversy here is after he tweeted that, the nba fell all over itself. now, adam silver says he didn't apologize for it, but they nearly grovelled to china after the fact here because they were afraid of losing business, and now it seems like they're trying to clean it up. >> the chinese language statement was different than the english language statement. it seemed much more like a direct apology. of course morey took down that tweet immediately. nba players who sent notes saying they supported him were told very clearly by his management, do not say anything in any way that would be in favor of hong kong. meanwhile, the owner of the new jersey nets, the new owner, joe si came out and wrote this two-page pro communist ideological screed referring to hong kong as the movement as separatist, just obviously in no way representing any american perspective from the government on what's happening right now on the ground, and th

charles: how do you feel about this. >> i'm supportive of daryl morey as well.hat makes our country special. we have the freedom of speech. i think that in that moment for him he didn't think of the backlash, right. i don't think any of us would. that is not a natural response. he thought he was doing it right for good of people in general and it's a real tough situation he is in. charles: it's a real tough situation. i saw a video coach kerr, hemming and hawing, he has a strong opinion on politics in this country, thinks like that. the players in the league, they're in pretty awkward position. they rushed hardin out yesterday to make a statement. it is just, handled in such a ham-fisted way. where do you think ultimately goes because china is not going to bend on this? >> i think time heals all wounds, right? i think china is very definitely sensitive because of all the stuff going on with trump and stuff like that, what is unique about sports, sports bring people together. over time i think the chinese people will realize that the general manager definitely ma