{"id":21331,"date":"2019-10-07T10:53:00","date_gmt":"2019-10-07T10:53:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/2019\/10\/07\/houston-rockets-gm-apologizes-for-tweet-supporting-hong-kong-protesters\/"},"modified":"2019-10-07T10:53:00","modified_gmt":"2019-10-07T10:53:00","slug":"houston-rockets-gm-apologizes-for-tweet-supporting-hong-kong-protesters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/associatednews.us\/content\/houston-rockets-gm-apologizes-for-tweet-supporting-hong-kong-protesters\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston Rockets GM Apologizes For Tweet Supporting Hong Kong Protesters"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Scott Neuman<\/a><\/span> <\/p>\n

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\n Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey discusses the direction of the team with the media during a basketball news conference in Houston in 2011.<\/p>\n

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Pat Sullivan\/AP<\/p>\n

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Pat Sullivan\/AP<\/p>\n

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The Houston Rockets’ general manager apologized on Sunday for a tweet expressing support for Hong Kong protesters that has sparked a harsh backlash from China’s official basketball association.<\/p>\n

“I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China …,” Daryl Morey tweeted on Sunday. “I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives.”<\/p>\n

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1\/ I did not intend my tweet to cause any offense to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China. I was merely voicing one thought, based on one interpretation, of one complicated event. I have had a lot of opportunity since that tweet to hear and consider other perspectives.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Daryl Morey (@dmorey) October 7, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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On Friday, Morey took to Twitter to show solidarity with a months-long anti-government protest in the Chinese territory. He sent a tweet that read: “Fight for Freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”<\/p>\n

It was quickly deleted, but not before it attracted notice in both China and the U.S.<\/p>\n

Soon after, the Rockets’ owner, Tilman Fertitta, sought to distance the team from the controversy, tweeting that Morley “does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets” and that the team is “NOT a political organization.”<\/p>\n

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Listen….@dmorey<\/a> does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets<\/a>. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA<\/a> internationally and we are NOT a political organization. @espn<\/a> https:\/\/t.co\/yNyQFtwTTi<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Tilman Fertitta (@TilmanJFertitta) October 5, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n

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And on Sunday, the Chinese Basketball Association \u2014 headed by former Rockets center and Hall of Famer Yao Ming<\/a>, announced that it was suspending cooperation with the Houston team. Tencent, a media partner of the NBA in China with a five-year streaming deal worth $1.5 billion, and China’s state television also said they wouldn’t be airing Rockets games.<\/p>\n

NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement late Sunday that Morey’s original tweet was “regrettable.”<\/p>\n

“We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the N.B.A. can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together,” he said.<\/p>\n

Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz took exception to the apology, tweeting, “As a lifelong @HoustonRockets fan, I was proud to see @dmorey call out the Chinese Communist Party’s repressive treatment of protesters,” adding in a separate tweet, “We’re better than this; human rights shouldn’t be assisting Chinese communist censorship.”<\/p>\n