China stops airing Boston Celtics games after Enes Kanter called Xi Jinping a 'brutal dictator'

• China stopped streaming Boston Celtics games after center Enes Kanter criticized Xi Jinping.
• Kanter called Xi a "brutal dictator," and expressed support for Tibet's independence.

Boston Celtics games are no longer being streamed in China after center Enes Kanter referred to the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a "brutal dictator" in a video posted on social media, while also expressing support for Tibetan independence.

"Brutal dictator of China, Xi Jinping, I have a message for you and your henchmen," Kanter said in the video. "Free Tibet, free Tibet, free Tibet." The video was posted on Wednesday and it didn't take long for China, which has been accused of severe human rights violations in Tibet, to react.

Tencent, which streams NBA games in China, cut the live broadcast of Wednesday's NBA game between the Celtics and New York Knicks, The Washington Post reported.

China Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin during a news conference on Thursday said Kanter was "clout-chasing, trying to get attention with Tibet-related issues," per The Post.

"Tibet is part of China," Wang said. "We welcome unbiased friends upholding objectivity across the world to Tibet. In the meanwhile, we never accept the attacks and smears on Tibet's development."

The NBA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.

It's illegal to support Tibetan independence in China, which governs Tibet as an autonomous region and claims it as part of its territory.

Chinese troops invaded Tibet in 1950. Prior to the invasion, Tibet had effectively been operating as an independent state for decades. After a failed uprising against Chinese rule in 1959, the Dalai Lama - who became head of state in 1950 at the age of 15 - fled to India and set up a government in exile. Many Tibetans continue to dispute China's claim to sovereignty over the territory. Meanwhile, China maintains that its claim over Tibet is a product of history and goes back centuries.

Basketball and the NBA are massively popular in China, but this is not the first time the country has clashed with the league over human rights and geopolitical issues.

Chinese affinity for the league was tested in 2019 after Daryl Morey, the Houston Rockets GM at the time, tweeted in support of pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong. The tweet was ultimately deleted, but the damage was already done. Chinese sponsors of the league pulled out and China Central Television, the state-run broadcaster, stopped airing games. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver in February 2020 said the league was likely to lose "hundreds of millions of dollars" because of the spat with China.

This is also not the first time Kanter has clashed with a foreign leader widely seen as an authoritarian. The Celtics center, who grew up in Turkey, has been an outspoken critic of the increasingly autocratic Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan over human rights abuses. The Turkish government has issued warrants for Kanter's arrest, accused him of terrorism, and revoked his passport.