A Tweet That Ignited A Firestorm Of Backlash
On October 4th Daryl Morey, General Manager for the Houston Rockets, decided to tweet in support of anti-government, pro-democracy Hong Kong protestors. The tweet wouldn’t have been an issue, was it not for the hand China has in the protests happening in their neighboring nation-state. China also happens to be a big revenue driver for the NBA and is currently the fastest-growing growth market for the league.
Over the past few decades, the US has actively recruited players from China. Specifically, legendary Chinese basketball player Yao Ming is one of the many players the Houston Rockets has drafted to play down in Texas. As such, Mr. Morey’s tweet has received even more criticism from China and fans across the globe. In response, Tencent Holdings, the official broadcaster of all NBA games in China, has stopped streaming Rockets games and has even retracted all mentioning of the NBA.
Shortly after posting, Mr. Morey removed the tweet and faced public backlash from Houston Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta who tweeted, “Listen….@dmorey does NOT speak for the @HoustonRockets. Our presence in Tokyo is all about the promotion of the @NBA internationally and we are NOT a political organization,” (The New York Times). However, the league has said repeatedly that it won’t discipline Mr. Morey and never considered firing him:
“We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals’ educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them. We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together.” — The Ringer
It’s clear that the NBA is making the distinction between Mr. Morey speaking as a citizen of the United States, versus as a representative of the Houston Rockets. NBA commissioner Adam Silver has also made it clear that it won’t be firing Mr. Morey (as China has demanded) and hopes the new season might help China “start to turn the corner and return to focusing on basketball.” Meanwhile, the future of the NBA in China is still unknown and the league has already suffered major financial loss.
Due to the complexity of the US relationship with China as a foreign entity, and between China and Hong Kong, it isn’t a great look for a U.S. company to succumb to China’s demands to fire Mr. Morey. While I believe every citizen has the freedom to express themselves, I also believe it is our responsibility to be thoroughly informed and use our best judgment. Especially, before sharing an opinion that could be damaging to the organizations we associate ourselves with. Daryl Morey has been in the business long enough to know the reach and consequence of his actions, and evidently, he did not think this one through.
In all fairness, a situation like this was probably a long time coming and certainly, the NBA should be thinking about rolling out a “best practices on social media” training. Social media and the ability to reach millions of people with a click of a button is a new factor that has inserted itself into the equation. Companies have a responsibility to make employees aware that although they are not explicitly speaking on behalf of the organization when they post online, connections can be drawn. As I mentioned in a previous blog post, brands are becoming democratized and employees are a big part of that perception.
In this situation, the NBA is using a lot of PR to remedy the situation, but hopefully, as tensions simmer, they can rethink the way they present and market themselves in a world with many dividing points of view. Brands need to take a stance, whether they like it or not. The NBA took a stance this month — let’s hope it was the right one, for their sake.
