He might be on the verge of winning his fourth NBA championship, but LeBron James is still making headlines for his off-court behaviour.
The basketball sensation has found himself embroiled in a controversial billboard campaign.
The National Legal and Policy Center in Virginia attempted to post billboards with an image of James with a Chinese flag covering his mouth, accompanied with the message “Silence is Violence”.
https://www.facebook.com/nationallegalpolicycenter/photos/a.1833761236915899/2541866412772041/?type=3
“When it comes to human rights in China, silence is indeed violence. We should be able to call LeBron on his hypocrisy without this censorship,” said NLPC chairman Peter Flaherty.
Despite being outspoken on many social issues in the US, James recently slammed Houston Rockets’ General Manager Daryl Morey when he expressed his support for Hong Kong protestors.
James said he thought Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation”.
The NLPC has also criticised James for the “slave labor” used to make his sneakers.
However, US OOH outfit The Outfront Media has confirmed it recent days it will decline the ads, despite the potential “hundreds of thousands” in ad revenue to be made from the controversial campaign.
“We cannot accept the ad as it is right now. The Chinese flag is Ok, and the silence is violence is ok,” a spokesperson from the agency said.
