Celtics star Enes Kanter has been making waves about China’s human rights violations, and said speaking up has resulted in death threats that the FBI is taking seriously.
Kanter has been targeting China, both on the court and social media, by wearing custom basketball shoes that blasted the country for occupying Tibet, and recently rocking a pair of sneaks that accused Lakers’ star LeBron James of supporting slave labor.
On Sunday, he turned his sights from the recent “king” of basketball to “his airness,” Michael Jordan.
“Not many people are talking about Michael Jordan,” Kanter said in a Sunday interview. “Michael Jordan hasn’t done anything, nothing, for the Black community in America besides just, you know, giving them money.”
Despite the former baller’s educational organization, the James R. Jordan Foundation, Kanter believes his more than a billion dollars in Nike based Jordan Brand sales have negated his contribution.
“I feel like we need to call out these athletes,” Kanter continued. “At least LeBron James is going out there and being the voice of all those people who are oppressed in America.”
“Michael Jordan has not done anything for the Black community because he cares too much about his shoe sales all over the world and America, and I feel like we need to call out these athletes and not be scared about who they are.”
During last weekend’s Celtics game, Kanter learned that he had received a death threat, but was clear that he wouldn’t stop speaking out against China.
Kanter explained that the FBI was aware of what was going on, and had even installed a panic button into his hotel room, so they would be able to respond in minutes. “Every time I leave my house, every time I go somewhere practical, [to] a game, there is a chance that it could get very ugly.”
The Celtics star noted that he has been getting death threats since the age of 24, when the exiled ex-pat criticized the Turkish government for human rights violations.
“I don’t want to say I’m used to these threats, because obviously you can never get used to getting death threats all the time, but I feel that in America I’m safe,” he remarked. “But anywhere else outside of the United States it could get ugly and dangerous.
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