The office of Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., released a statement to Newsmax on Tuesday calling for the NBA to force Golden State Warriors minority owner Chamath Palihapitiya to sell his stake in the team after he made dismissive comments regarding the so-called Uyghur genocide in the Xinjiang region of China over the weekend.
Palihapitiya drew criticism after stating on the ''All-In'' podcast, which he co-hosts, that ''nobody cares'' about human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslims, adding that the issue is ''not a priority'' for him, according to the New York Post.
''Woke CEO Chamath Palihapitiya said no one cares about the Chinese Communist Party's mass enslavement, torture, and rape of religious minorities,'' the statement from Cotton's office read. ''He may be so callous that he doesn't care about genocide, but the American people do.''
Cotton continued, adding that the league has pushed out prior owners for remarks they have made before and that it should apply the same principle to Palihapitiya.
''The NBA has investigated owners and forced a sale after outrageous comments before, and it even moved the All-Star game to protest a North Carolina law saying boys and girls shouldn't use the same bathroom. The league will prove itself greedy, spineless, and hypocritical if it doesn't force Palihapitiya to sell his interest in the Warriors.''
The latest escalation from Cotton follows an appearance on Hugh Hewitt's radio show on Monday in which he attacked the business interests of the NBA in China and the league's lack of response, OutKick reported.
''But they know that if they cross the Chinese Communist Party, it may threaten their access to the Chinese market or to cheap Chinese inputs,'' Cotton said.
''So, I have to say what this guy spoke over the weekend is a classic Washington gaffe. He didn't say something that was not what was in his heart. He said exactly what was in his heart and what's in the heart of so many of these liberal tech billionaires and their courtiers in Washington.''
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