‘Sad & disgusting’: Enes Kanter continues calling out LeBron James’s silence on China, slave labor

China critic and NBA player Enes Kanter took another shot at LeBron James on Twitter Thursday, accusing him of choosing “Money over Morals” by deferring to China. 

The Boston Celtics center called out James’s hypocrisy of championing social justice causes in America while ignoring Chinese human rights abuses such as Hong Kong police crackdowns and Uyghur labor camps.

“They really do ‘shut up & dribble’ when Big Boss [China] says so,” reads Kanter’s post, referring to when Laura Ingraham of Fox News’ used the same phrase to criticize James for “talking politics.” 

Money over Morals for the “King” 👑

Sad & disgusting how these athletes pretend they care about social justice

They really do “shut up & dribble” when Big Boss 🇨🇳 says so

Did you educate yourself about the slave labor that made your shoes or is that not part of your research? pic.twitter.com/YUA8rGYeoZ

— Enes Kanter (@EnesKanter) November 18, 2021

At the time, James defended his activism, saying, “I mean too much to society, too much to the youth, too much to so many kids who feel like they don’t have a way out.”

Kanter’s tweet included pictures of shoes with artwork prominently featuring crowns, referring to the Lakers star’s nickname “King James.” He has been wearing similar shoes in his games all season to raise awareness of Chinese human rights abuses.

One shoe features Xi Jinping taking a crown off his bowed head while surrounded by bags of money.

Other shoes have messages that read, “I Am Informed and Educated on the Situation” and “Hey, Still Researching and Getting Educated?” using the words James himself used when he accused Rockets GM Daryl Morey of ignorance for supporting pro-democracy activists in Hong Kong. 

Kanter has previously criticized Nike, which sponsors James, for covering up its use of Chinese forced labor to produce its shoes.

James dismissed the tweet in postgame questions after the Celtics beat his Lakers 130-108 Friday night, where he said Kanter was only “trying to use my name to create an opportunity for himself.”

Kanter has a history of standing up to authoritarianism in his home country by calling Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan the “Hitler of our century.” Shortly thereafter, Kanter’s own family disowned him. Kanter is now set to become an American citizen. He will be sworn in at the end of November at which time he will become an American citizen.