NBA’s Enes Kanter calls out Nike’s ‘silence’ on China and alleged forced labour of Uygurs, wears ‘modern day slavery’ shoes
- Turkish NBA player Enes Kanter continues verbal assault against Beijing after donning a fourth pair of custom-designed game shoes
- Kanter says Nike is ‘scared to speak up’ in latest social media video – ‘Who makes your shoes in China? Do you even know?’
During his team’s game against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night in North Carolina, he wore a pair of white trainers adorned with the words “modern day slavery”, and once again posted an accompanying video message on his social media accounts.
“Nike remains vocal about injustice [in the US], but when it comes to China, Nike remains silent,” said Kanter, who used the hashtag #EndUyghurForcedLabor.
“You do not address police brutality in China, you do not speak about discrimination against the LGBT community, you do not say a word about the oppression of minorities in China, you are scared to speak up.”
Nike is deeply embedded in the Chinese market, which in turn is the NBA’s largest overseas market. In 2015, the US sports apparel company signed a reported US$1 billion dollar deal with the NBA to exclusively produce the league’s jerseys.
“Who makes your shoes in China? Do you even know?” Kanter added. “There are so many forced labour factories in China. For instance Uygur forced labour, it is modern day slavery, and it is happening right now in China. Millions of Uygurs are currently detained, sold and assigned to work in forced labour camps like prisons in factories across the country.”