Nets Owner Joe Tsai Blocks Rep. Matt Gaetz For Pointing Out China-Kyrie Hypocrisy

Nets owner Joe Tsai doesn’t appreciate Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) publicizing his hypocrisy. He would prefer Gaetz not.

Tsai is disappointed in Nets guard Kyrie Irving for sharing a link with his followers late last week to buy the film "‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America." The film is based on the 2015 book of the same name which preaches ideas closely aligned with Black Hebrew Israelite extremists.

Tsai plans to sit down with Irving to explain how his post was hurtful to men like himself. The Nets owner describes himself as a man of faith who condemns all hate based on race, ethnicity, and religion.

That's quite the statement from Joe Tsai.

Tsai made his fortune in China by founding the tech company Alibaba. Alibaba’s technologies are widely distributed in the western region of Xinjiang, where the Chinese government commits genocide against Uyghur Muslims. 

Put simply, a billionaire who proclaims zero-tolerance for discrimination happily profits from a region that holds Uyghurs in barbed-wire "re-education" camps, in which they are raped and tortured, per the U.S. Department of State.

Yet, Tsai preaches to Kyrie it's "wrong to promote hate based on race, ethnicity, or religion."

Gaetz questioned the sincerity of Tsai’s tweet on Saturday:

Astute point from Gaetz. One in which Tsai couldn’t defend. Rather, the shady businessman responded with a block:

Tsai often reminds his followers that he’s an advocate of causes “bigger than basketball.” He says he puts human rights above his own bottom line. 

Yet an ESPN report from earlier this year found quite the opposite. Individuals around the NBA consider Joe Tsai the “face of the NBA's relationship with China.” 

“Two and a half years later, Tsai personifies the compromises embedded in the NBA-China relationship, which brings in billions of dollars but requires the league to do business with an authoritarian government and look past the kind of social justice issues it is fighting at home,” the report found.

Here in the U.S., Tsai donates hundreds of millions of dollars to causes that supposedly combat racism and discrimination.

In China, Tsai makes deals with partners the U.S. government blacklisted for supporting, per ESPN, a "campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention and high-tech surveillance through state-of-the-art racial profiling.”

Tsai is LeBron James with more money and original thoughts. He's a stooge who weaponizes social issues in the U.S. for status gain while advocating the NBA strengthen its relationship with modern-day Nazis in China.

Hating America is profitable. As is protecting the Chinese Communist Party. So you see, Tsai made a calculated business decision.

Good on Rep. Gaetz for pointing how Joe Tsai’s pandering hypocrisy. The block shows it hit home.

Written by
Bobby Burack is a writer for OutKick where he reports and analyzes the latest topics in media, culture, sports, and politics.. Burack has become a prominent voice in media and has been featured on several shows across OutKick and industry related podcasts and radio stations.