National Basketball Association asks Enes Kanter to Remove ‘Free Tibet’ Shoes

Elle van der Cam

Tibet and Human Rights Researcher,

Global Human Rights Defence.

Enes Kanter has become one of the most vocal and political players in North America’s professional basketball league, the National Basketball Association (NBA). The player previously criticised Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which led to Kanter receiving death threats, persecution of his relatives in Turkey, with the Turkish government also banning him from the country. Now, Kanter is drawing the world’s attention to other injustices, notably those in Tibet committed by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). In the first game of the season, the player wore the words ‘Free Tibet’ on his sneakers. In a recent interview, Kanter claims the NBA tried to force him to remove his sneakers and later apologised as Kanter refused. Kanter also explained that the NBA provides the freedom for players to highlight human rights abuses around the globe, and shows no intention to stop now. As such, Kanter will continue using his platform to importantly raise awareness on the human rights abuses of the CCP in Tibet.

Sources and further reading:

Kanter on his ‘Free Tibet’ shoes’: Two NBA guys asked me to take them off, Marca, 12 November 2021, https://www.marca.com/en/basketball/nba/2021/11/12/618ea34ee2704e32a38b45b0.html .