The social justice-obsessed NBA is about to let Qatar partially own a team
Zachary Faria
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The NBA’s social justice reputation is completely unearned. If the league allows Qatar to be an investor in one of its teams, it would be yet another reminder of just how morally bankrupt the league is.
As part of a $4.05 billion deal, the Qatar Investment Authority is planning to purchase a 5% stake in Monumental Sports & Entertainment. MSE is the parent company of the Washington Wizards, as well as the NHL’s Washington Capitals, the WNBA’s Washington Mystics, Capital One Arena (where all three teams play), and NBC Sports Washington.
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According to NBA spokesman Mike Bass, all investments require league review, and “the NBA Board is currently reviewing a potential investment by QIA in Monumental Sports & Entertainment.” Bass also preemptively set up the league’s defense if the purchase is approved, saying, “QIA would have a passive, minority investment in the team, with no involvement in its operations or decision-making.” To compare, the NHL already approved of the QIA’s involvement with the Capitals.
In other words, the same NBA that pulled its All-Star festivities from Charlotte because North Carolina legislators said men must use the men’s restroom and not the women’s is now on the verge of allowing a country that criminalizes homosexuality to own a piece of one of its teams. And during Pride Month, no less.
Of course, this is normal for the NBA. Last year the league decided it would hold some preseason games in the United Arab Emirates, where being gay or transgender is illegal and punishable by fines, castration, or death. This is the same league that has partnered with communist Cuba and China for basketball camps and preseason games. At home, the NBA is all about social justice. Abroad, the league will happily sell out to any human rights-abusing authoritarians who show them some money.
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In fact, this wouldn’t even be out of the ordinary for the Wizards. The franchise repeatedly personally honored Chinese Ambassador Qin Gang, whose entire job is to whitewash China’s human rights abuses, up to and including genocide.
All the while, NBA commissioner Adam Silver, as well as the league’s biggest stars, continue to assert that they care oh so deeply about human rights and social justice. It is the most transparent faux activism of any sports league in the country, and NBA figures using the league’s platform for their political hobby horses should be mercilessly ridiculed so long as the league continues to partner with China, Cuba, the UAE, and now Qatar.