Anta Sports threatened to cut ties with the league over its support for Hong Kong protesters
The maker of the NBA’s official game balls is owned by a Chinese company accused of using Uyghur slave labor that has threatened to cut ties with the league for supporting pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
In 2019, the Chinese-owned Anta Sports acquired Amer Sports and its subsidiaries, including the sporting goods maker Wilson. The NBA inked a deal with Wilson to provide game balls for the upcoming season. The league has also sold Anta brand shoes on its website.
The NBA has faced a drumbeat of criticism over its silence on China’s human rights abuses. While many of its superstars have defended social justice protests in the United States, the league has been largely quiet regarding China’s crackdown on pro-democracy protesters and its alleged use of slave labor.
The bipartisan Congressional Executive Commission on China recently called on the NBA to cut ties with Anta and other Chinese apparel companies over their use of labor from Xinjiang, where the Chinese government has forced more than one million Uyghurs into internment camps. Anta and the other targeted companies have sneaker endorsement deals with more than a dozen NBA players.
Anta, which is also the official uniform maker for the Olympics, withdrew earlier this year from a group called the Better Cotton Initiative, which had called on companies to end the use of cotton from Xinjiang. The Congressional Executive Commission said Anta and the other companies’ use of cotton from Xinjiang likely makes them "complicit in the use of...
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They aren't the first wealthy slaves, the players. Many gladiators were filthy rich. But they are slaves, and know it. Look at them kneel to the destruction of their species. So be it.
ReplyDeleteMaking the basketballs that Americans just won't make.
ReplyDelete