Shanghai: Chinese organizers on Wednesday cancelled a fan event on the eve of a National Basketball Association (NBA) exhibition game in Shanghai, the latest fallout in a row over comments by a team official supporting protests in Hong Kong.
Chinese sponsors and partners have been cutting ties with the NBA after a tweet by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey last week supporting anti-government protests in the Chinese-ruled city.
The Shanghai Sports Federation said the cancellation of the fan event ahead of Thursday's game between the Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers was due to the 'inappropriate attitude' of Morey and NBA Commissioner Adam Silver.
Silver said on Tuesday the league supported Morey's right to exercise his freedom of expression, further angering authorities and some fans in China and threatening the NBA's business there, said to be worth more than $4 billion.
Morey deleted the tweet and apologized on Monday, but Chinese broadcasters, sportswear companies, and sponsors have said they are reviewing their ties with the NBA, which has had a presence in China since 1992.
The NBA initially described the anger over Morey's post as 'regrettable', drawing criticism from US politicians, who accused the league of putting its China business ahead of free speech.
Silver, speaking on Tuesday in Japan before a preseason game between the Rockets and Toronto Raptors, said it was not up to the league to regulate what players, employees and team owners said.
On Wednesday, an editorial in the official English-language China Daily accused Silver of 'brazenly endorsing Morey's secessionist-supporting tweet' and giving 'a shot to the arms of the rioters of Hong Kong'.
"If Silver thinks to endorse the indiscriminate violence the radical Hong Kong protesters are resorting to ... is supporting freedom of expression, then he should think again," it said.
The protests were 'a bid to liberate the city' and 'a secessionist pipe-dream' peddled by demonstrators 'to justify their summer hooliganism', the newspaper added. The protests were sparked by opposition to a bill allowing extradition to mainland China, but have since evolved into broader calls for democracy. None of the protesters' five demands are secession or independence.
The basketball furore also comes against the backdrop of the U.S.-China trade war, which escalated after Washington imposed visa restrictions on Chinese officials on Tuesday.
The Global Times, a Chinese tabloid published by the ruling Communist Party's People's Daily newspaper, accused Silver of caving in to political pressure, saying the NBA was treating the Chinese market with arrogant disregard.
"Tweeting something offensive to the Chinese people before a series of NBA promotional activities in China only shows a lack of intellect, respect, and responsibility," it said.
In a separate report, the newspaper also said that some Chinese internet users had made 'disrespectful comments' about Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center in New York and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.
"(It) should remind Western media that for Chinese people, the Hong Kong riots are just like 9/11, which is horrible and can't be justified," the Global Times said.
No one has been killed in several months of protests in Hong Kong, although scores - mostly protesters and journalists - have been hurt. Sept. 11, 2001, attacks killed 2,996 people and led to the US invasion of Afghanistan.
Basketball is the most popular sport in China, with about 500 million people consuming NBA content. The league has dealt with TV and digital media outlets across the country, and teams have played exhibition games annually since 2014. (IANS)