Australian Open Censors Fans’ ‘Where Is Peng Shuai?’ Shirts, Raising Questions About Tournament’s Chinese Sponsorship

Tennis Australia demanded that fans wearing T-shirts with the question “Where is Peng Shuai?” remove their shirts at the Australian Open over the weekend.

“They are asking our friend to take her shirt off,” an incredulous fan can be heard saying in a viral video showing the peaceful confrontation with security.

“The Australian Open does have a rule that you can’t have political slogans,” a security officer appears to say in the video. “They are allowed to confiscate your shirts and the banner.”

Peng Shuai’s story caused international concern when the world’s No. 1 doubles player suspiciously disappeared after taking to social media to accuse a senior Chinese Communist Party official of sexual assault. After criticism from the Women’s Tennis Association and other global voices, China sent the WTA an email supposedly from Peng insisting “everything is fine.”

Shortly afterward, Chinese state media released footage of Peng and had the CCP-friendly International Olympic Committee publish a still photo of what was supposedly a video conference with Peng. A month later, the tennis star denied ever making the allegations of sexual assault, raising more questions about her freedom to communicate to the world without...

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