LeBron James and the NBA have spent years trying to curry favor with China’s communist leaders in hopes of tapping into the country’s lucrative market.
And they were no doubt counting on a big release for the new film “Space Jam: A New Legacy” to both make money and spread the brand.
They were so eager to cash in on the market that Politico said the film “is carefully neutered to appeal to an apolitical global cinematic marketplace dominated by China.”
But it didn’t work: China has so far refused to show the film – and that means the league, James, and Warner Brothers could be left holding the ball as the film loses millions.
It’s just the latest humiliation for the league, and it comes just two years after a 2019 incident in which an ordinary tweet turned into an international incident.
Daryl Morey, who was general manager of the Houston Rockets at the time, tweeted out a message in support of pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
China threw a fit – and both the league and James hung Morey out to dry.
“When you’re misinformed or you’re not educated about something – and I’m just talking about the tweet itself – you never know the ramifications that can happen,” James said as the drama unfolded. “So many people could have been harmed, not only financially, but physically, emotionally [and] spiritually.”
Behind the scenes, James also warned players against speaking out.
ESPN reported at the time that he “told the room that it was too much for the players to take on in that moment — to explain a complicated issue with racial, socioeconomic and geopolitical layers while visitors in China.”
The comments might be understandable if James was always so guarded, and careful in how he used his voice on social media and in public.
But he’s been highly active on Twitter, and in the past often feuded with then-President Donald Trump. He’s also been outspoken on major issues such as police brutality.
But when it came to China, Sylvester the Cat seems to have gotten his tongue.
“LeBron is unwilling to say anything about China, both with his relationship with China but, more importantly, say Space Jam 2 gets on in Chinese theaters,” Fox Sports host Clay Travis told Ben Shapiro in April. “If LeBron ever spoke out and said something simple like ‘I’m in favor of human rights around the world,’ China would pull his movie as well as his product and his ability to make money off of Chinese corporations.”
Turns out China did that anyway – despite the fact that James kept his mouth shut about the nation’s relentless crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong as well as its brutal treatment of Uyghurs in the nation’s west.
More recently, Travis wrote Twitter:
LeBron ripped the first amendment in the US, declined to speak up for basic human rights in China, & shut up and dribbled for Chairman Xi all to get Space Jam 2 on in China. And now LeBron won’t even talk about his movie being banned. Because he’s still afraid of upsetting China.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) July 21, 2021
But China isn’t the film’s only problem.
It may not even be the biggest issue with the movie.
It has two others.
The first is money: While it topped last weekend’s box office in the United States with $31 million, and globally has earned a little more than $50 million, it won’t come close to recouping its $150 million budget without some Chinese marketing power.
The second is the critics: “Space Jam: A New Legacy” has just 29 percent on the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes.Richard Brody of The New Yorker said the film “is full of jokes but almost bereft of humor,” while Entertainment Weekly’s Mary Sollosi said: “Here’s the thing about basketball: It is extremely watchable. Here’s the thing about Space Jam: A New Legacy: It’s not.”
Maybe the Chinese government is doing its citizens a favor for once.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert.