Anti-government protests cause celebrity ban

Courtesy of Creative Commons

Citizens of Hong Kong standing outside in protest of government.

Kevin Mendez, Reporter

For the past couple of months, China has been experiencing backlash from its citizens from the government making laws about allowing the extradition of convicted criminals to mainland China. 

This worried the people that live in Hong Kong because they feared that this law would give them unfair trials and violent treatment. People were also worried that the new law would give China a “greater influence over Hong Kong”. 

Protest began peacefully but as more people joined the protests and demonstrations, the more violent they became. These protests were “fueled by the hatred for the police” according to the New York Times.

 As more people joined the protests, the more the protests turned into a movement about protecting the freedom, democracy, and Hong Kong’s autonomy. 

As these protests keep getting larger and larger, the more people are becoming aware of the situation even large businesses and associations are taking notice.

This has made celebrities and companies pick sides between the people of Hong Kong and the government of China. Picking side, though, has its consequences. Those celebrities and companies who take a public stand against the government of China and stand with the people, have a chance to be banned from China and its goods.

For example, an NBA general manager took a stand against the Chinese government. This not only affected the general manager, it affected the NBA as a whole. How?

The NBA is very dependent on Chinese manufacturers such as Adidas and Nike. China’s broadcasting system is also wide-spread and brings in a great amount of revenue to the NBA as well to China.

When the owner of the NBA team took his stand, the NBA took a huge blow because China decided to stop airing his teams games in China. This was a huge blow to the NBA because China made 20% of the NBA’s revenue according to CNN.