Enes Kanter

Friday

Cockburn

Mr. Freedom goes to Washington

Cockburn had a sojourn through the corridors of power on Thursday — attending a congressional reception on global human rights in the Rayburn House Office Building, hosted by basketball star Enes Kanter Freedom. Freedom has a storied past when it comes to dealing with dictatorships: the Turkish government revoked his passport in 2017 and jailed his father over his support for Fethullah Gülen, a cleric who is feverishly critical of President Erdoğan. He caused a controversy at the start of this season after donning shoes highlighting the persecution of Uighur Muslims and Tibetans in China while playing for the Boston Celtics. The NBA stopped broadcasting his team’s games, and midway through the season he was cut from their roster.

kanter freedom

Thursday

Melissa Chen

The player exposing the NBA’s hypocrisy on China

Remember when “Free Tibet” was a mainstay of the cool, hippie subculture that dominated the Nineties? Back when Hollywood cared about the fate of Buddhism’s Holy Land? Few will even remember that Disney — yes, the same Disney that recently filmed parts of the live-action Mulan in Xinjiang — produced a film, Kundun, about the early life of the Dalai Lama. China then retaliated by banning Disney films, causing the company to backtrack and attempt to bury the Scorsese-directed biopic. Disney's then-CEO even traveled to China to apologize. This series of events should sound familiar by now in the age of Western capitulation to China. Less commonplace these days is the sight of a celebrity sporting imagery of the Dalai Lama and any quaint talk of “freeing Tibet.

enes kanter

Friday

Enes Kanter Freedom

Enes Kanter on freedom and the bubble

Orlando, Florida The life of an NBA player is defined by constant travel: crisscrossing the country for away games and spending half of the year in dozens of different cities. So it’s always a great experience to play with home-court advantage before the Celtics’ fans, as well as under pressure in away games. The type of experience we were used to having pre-COVID was unparalleled, and nothing could ever replace that. Despite the 140-day interruption to our passion, the NBA has done a tremendous job creating a safe haven in Orlando for the players, coaches, staff and referees. Housing hundreds of players in a sports complex, arranging safe workout settings and creating a home-court experience for games is no easy feat.

enes kanter

Wednesday

Marlo Safi

Enes Kanter, Kim Kardashian and Turkish crimes against humanity

The Hitler of our century, Boston Celtics basketball player Enes Kanter has said, is the president of his native Turkey. In response to Lebron James playing interference for China following Rockets general manager Daryl Morey tweeting support for Hong Kong’s protesters and their struggle for liberty, Kanter responded with his experience: his outspoken criticism of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s human rights abuses has cost him his family and his safety. 'FREEDOM IS NOT FREE,' Kanter wrote on Twitter, also listing the consequences for his disobedience, including his father being jailed, Kanter’s attempted kidnapping, and having not seen or spoken to his family in five years. Him and his family became pariahs.

enes kanter