Report: ESPN Reporter to Josh Hawley After NBA-China Email: ‘F*ck You’

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-MO, speaks during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing "to examine COV
ANDREW HARNIK/POOL/AFP via Getty Images
Warner Todd Huston

On Friday, U.S. Senator Josh Hawley slammed the NBA for ignoring the rampant human rights abuse record of their partner, China. The Senator’s office included ESPN NBA reporter Adrian Wojnarowski on the email recipient list.

Wojnarowski’s reply to the message, was brief: “F*ck you.”

Sports commentator Jason Whitlock caught wind of the ESPN reporter’s reply and posted a message to Twitter questioning the act.

It appears that Wojnarowski was infuriated that someone might question the NBA’s moral fortitude over its disinterest in the genocide that China commits.

According to Washington Post reporter Ben Strauss, ESPN acknowledged that their reporter’s message appeared to be real and were “looking into it.”

The Senator’s letter was spurred by the NBA’s decision to begin putting social justice messages on player jerseys and its subsequent decision to ignore all the oppressive, inhuman actions taken by the Chinese government, their multimillion-dollar business partner.

In his letter to the NBA, Hawley slammed the league’s wokeness saying that their “free expression appears to stop at the edge of your corporate sponsors’ sensibilities.”

“The truth is that your decisions about which messages to allow and which to censor – much like the censorship decisions of the [Chinese Community Party] – are themselves statements about your association’s values. If I am right – if the NBA is more committed to promoting the CCP’s interests than to celebrating its home nation – your fans deserve to know that is your view. If not, prove me wrong. Let your players stand up for the Uighurs and the people of Hong Kong. Let them stand up for American law enforcement if they so choose. Give them the choice to write ‘Back the Blue’ on their jerseys. Or ‘Support Our Troops.’ Maybe ‘God Bless America.” What could be more American than that?’ Hawley continued.

“With your new policy, you have crossed the line of sanctioning specific political messages. There is no avoiding the work of clarifying the association’s values now. This is a time for you to make clear what your league believes about human rights and about the nation that is your home. Your silence on these questions speaks volumes,” the sen. added.

After Wojnarowski’s email reply, Sen. Hawley jumped to Twitter to take yet another poke at both the NBA and the ESPN reporter.

Wojnarowski soon began catching flak from many others on social media with his flippancy about China’s human rights abuses. One also has to wonder if Wojnarowski would ever reply like this to a Democrat politician?

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