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(THE FEDERALIST) – NBA star Enes Kanter Freedom said the National Basketball Association tried to silence him for using his official uniform attire to criticize communist China’s treatment of Tibet, when he wore the slogan “Free Tibet” on his sneakers.

“There [were] two gentlemen came from the NBA [who] said, ‘Take those shoes off.’ I’m like, ‘Excuse me?’ He said, ‘Yep, take those shoes off.’ I was like, ‘I’m not taking the shoes off.’ They’re like, ‘Listen, we are begging you to take those shoes off.’ And I asked him, ‘Am I breaking any rules?’ They said, ‘No.’ … And after that I was like, ‘Go tell your boss, I don’t care if I get banned or fined. I’m not taking the shoes off.’ You know? And that game, I played zero minutes,’” Freedom told Megyn Kelly on SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show.”

Freedom said he talked about the incident with NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who denied that he was doing anything wrong.

“I had a conversation with Adam Silver and I asked Adam like, ‘Adam, I’ve been getting so much like blowback and so much pressure from the league, am I breaking any rules?’ He said, ‘No.’ Okay, then from now on, I don’t want anyone to call me from the league to take my shoes off or to put a statement out there,” Freedom said.

Freedom said he first began to speak out against communist China’s human rights abuses against the people in Tibet and the Uyghurs because “it broke my heart.”