Dan Le Batard is Tired of America ‘Bowing’ to China’s Human Rights Violations: ‘I Sure as F*ck Am Not’ Watching the Olympics
Podcaster and former ESPN host Dan Le Batard won’t be watching the Beijing Olympics, and he excoriated the American sports networks for being willing to conceal human rights violations in China, choosing to celebrate the Olympics instead.
“We’re just gonna go on with the Olympics in China and we’re just going to not try and apply any of our freedoms of protest, of speech?” Le Batard asked on his podcast this week.
“They’re being warned right now about ‘be careful of what you say freely in that country,’” Le Batard said of Olympic athletes going to Beijing. “I’m tired of America, with its business interests, bowing to things that don’t represent basic human right freedoms that we all agree upon!”
Le Batard amended the part that “we all agree,” to exclude Golden State Warriors part-owner Chamath Palihapitiya, who recently claimed “nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs.” Palihapitiya’s shocking statement has been largely ignored by American sports networks, which often prioritize league partnerships over China’s human rights violations. Palihapitiya later tweeted “[s]ome clarifying comments” about the issue on Twitter that were widely panned.
“It can’t be below your line, that someone else who isn’t you can be killed or persecuted – killed or persecuted – for believing something different from a government that’s not free and violates basic human rights,” Le Batard ranted on the ignorance of Palihapitiya’s comments.
While ESPN has been silent on the Warriors part-owner and the issues surrounding the Beijing Olympics, Le Batard parted ways with the Worldwide Leader early last year, launching Meadowlark Media where he’s able to speak freely on political and social issues.
“If you’re not gonna give me a full boycott…I’m asking for sports to use all of its maximum power to apply the pressure and not just shrug its shoulders on our athletes can’t even speak about this while we’re there because this is China’s laws, we’re playing by China’s rules,” Le Batard said.
Athletes were recently warned against speaking in support of Uyghur Muslims. According to The Guardian, Human Rights Watch researcher, Yaqiu Wang cited the disappearance of tennis player Peng Shuai as an indicator of what could happen to athletes who speak out against China.
“Are you good with the packaging being commercial on all things China and the athletes not speaking freely on anything? Are you good with supporting that?” Le Batard asked. “Are you gonna watch the Olympics? Because I sure as f*ck am not.”
Watch above via Le Batard and Friends
