Shaq on NBA China Controversy: 'Daryl Morey Was Right' to Support Hong Kong Protestors

Nicholas Ballasy | 2:03 AM on October 23, 2019

*Shaquille O'Neal arrives at the Grand Opening of Shaquille's at LA Live on Saturday, March 9, 2019, in Los Angeles. (Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP)*

Former NBA Star Shaquille O’Neal backed Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey’s decision to post a tweet in support of protestors in Hong Kong.

“One of our best values here in America is free speech. We’re allowed to say what we want to say and we are allowed to speak out on injustices and that’s just how it goes,” O’Neal said on TNT Tuesday. “If people don’t understand that, that’s something that they have to deal with.”

O’Neal continued, “I just thought it was unfortunate for both parties, and then you’ve got people speaking when they don’t know what they’re talking about but Daryl Morey was right. Whenever you see something wrong going on anywhere in the world, you should have the right to say ‘that’s not right,’ and that’s what he did.”

O’Neal said “we have the right to speak, especially with social media — we can say whatever we want to say, when we want to say it.”

Los Angeles Lakers Star LeBron James was widely criticized for his reaction to Morey’s tweet last week.