"The only person not shaqtin' acting a fool in the NBA is Shaq," joked Melissa Chen, who is a human rights activist and columnist on the latest episode of Fox Nation's "UNPC."
Chen was reacting to Shaquille O'Neal's defense of Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey, who spoke out against the violent repression of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong, who are demanding more autonomy from the repressive Chinese government. Morey was the target of backlash from the Chinese regime as well as prominent NBA players and coaches.
"One of our best values here in America is free speech, "O'Neal said in a now-viral video. "We're allowed to say what we want to say and we are allowed to speak out on injustices and that's just how it goes. If people don't understand that, that's something they have to deal with."
ESPN PERSONALITIES DEFEND LEBRON JAMES, KNOCK DARYL MOREY AMID NBA-CHINA CONTROVERSY
O'Neal's remarks followed the controversial reaction of NBA superstar Lebron James, who said that Morey "wasn't educated on the situation at hand" and added, "just be careful what we tweet and say and we do, even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too."
Chen noted: "It wasn't just LeBron. It was Steve Kerr. It was Steph Curry as well. They all express views very similar to Lebron's."
However, Chen said that James' defense of China was the most egregious because he is such a vocal critic of the United States.
"It's just astounding to me for somebody that... speaks up so often about injustices on our turf, but when it came to putting profit on the line," Chen argued, James balked.
"It didn't cost anything for him to basically be a champion for injustice here. But when it did... he just didn't follow through."
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Furthermore, Chen called on the NBA to use its influence to encourage positive change in China.
"The NBA has a lot of power and I think when you do have that power, it behooves you to assert that," she argued.
"[Americans] thought for years that if we just engage with trade with China, that they would be importing our values, freedom and democracy... But that was one of the greatest miscalculations of the 21st century," Chen concluded. "The truth is that China has been exporting censorship to the United States. They're exporting their values around the world now. So we empower them economically, but we didn't get the part of the deal where they would become more politically free."
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