NBA player Enes Kanter attacks Xi Jinping on social media before wearing ‘Free Tibet’ shoes during game
- Enes Kanter publishes social media posts attacking ‘brutal dictator’ Xi Jinping before wearing shoes designed by dissident cartoonist Badiucao
- Practising Muslim say he can no longer ‘stay silent’ over Tibet
Boston Celtics player Enes Kanter slammed Chinese President Xi Jinping on social media before wearing shoes emblazoned with the slogan “Free Tibet” during his team’s NBA game against the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night.
“My message to the Chinese government is free Tibet,” he said in a video posted on his various social media accounts. “Tibet belongs to Tibetans, I am here to add my voice and speak out against what is happening in Tibet under the Chinese government’s brutal rule.”
Kanter called Xi a “brutal dictator” in the video’s accompanying caption and criticised the Chinese government’s actions in Tibet before saying he could no longer “stay silent” on the issue.
In the video, Kanter wore a T-shirt featuring the 14th Dalai Lama, who many Tibetans regard as their spiritual leader.
Before the start of the 2018 season, the NBA relaxed its policy on shoes that players wear on the court, allowing them to wear trainers of any colour. Currently the only restrictions apply to third-party logos, which have to be preapproved by the league before they can be worn.