ESPN should be asking the NBA "tough questions" about China's misdeeds, Sen. Josh Hawley said Tuesday, not apologizing for one of their reporters who sent him a profane email.
"I don’t want an apology," the Missouri Republican told Fox News' "Fox & Friends." "I don’t want his suspension. I want ESPN to ask the NBA these tough questions."
ESPN said it was suspending NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski without pay a day after Hawley posted a copy of the email on his Twitter page.
Hawley’s office had issued a press release, including Wojnarowski's name, about a letter he'd planned to send to NBA Commission Adam Silver to criticize the league's decision to limit the messages players could wear on their jerseys to just "pre-approved, social justice slogans" at a time when it was censoring support for law enforcement and criticism of China's Communist Party.
Wojnarowski has apologized to Hawley and his ESPN colleagues for the email.
The NBA, Hawley said Tuesday, makes "billions of dollars in China every year” but won't speak out against the Communist regime or about "what China is doing in the world. They won’t say a word about what China is doing in Hong Kong or in the concentration camps."
Hawley said that it is “outrageous” that fans can't buy a customized NBA jersey without an approved logo.
“I just asked a few simple questions of Adam Silver," said Hawley. "Why is it that you can’t put free Hong Kong on the back of a jersey? ESPN’s response to that is first to tell me 'F you 'and then suspend reporters. They need to ask more questions, not fewer questions, and someone needs to be standing up to the NBA.”
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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