The NBA appears to have reversed course after critics pointed out that customers cannot print “FreeHongKong” when ordering custom gear on its online store, further increasing scrutiny of the league’s close tie to China.
Hours after a viral video showed that customers could not order any jerseys with the phrase “FreeHongKong,” the online store now allows such text to be printed on the clothes without being blocked with an error message.
A spokesperson for the NBA told Fox News that Fanatics operates the league’s online store and the company claims that the phrase was “inadvertently prohibited” and that it “has now been fixed.”
A video shared by a Twitter user named Vince on Sunday evening went viral showing his attempt to order a custom t-shirt with text that reads “FreeHongKong” on the site Fanatics.com, which has direct ties to all major sports leagues including the NBA.
The subject of the NBA’s close ties to China was renewed last week after ESPN’s prominent NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski sent Sen. Hawley a profane response to the lawmaker’s criticism of the league’s decision of “pre-approved, social justice slogans” while “censoring support” for law enforcement and criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.
Wojnarowski apologized to Hawley, and ESPN later suspended the reporter.
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