NBA executive Daryl Morey sparked an international incident this weekend, when a Twitter post supporting human rights protesters in Hong Kong was met with swift backlash in China.
Morey, the Houston Rockets general manager who is in Japan with the Rockets for a pair of preseason games against the Toronto Raptors, posted an image to his Twitter account on Friday that bore a simple message: “Fight for freedom. Stand with Hong Kong.”
His account was quickly bombarded by angry replies before he deleted the message. Some social media users replied with “NMSL” – Chinese Internet slang that means “your mother is dead” – and called for Morey, who has been with the Rockets since 2006, to be fired.