MSNBC host Joe Scarborough slammed Marco Rubio Thursday morning after the Florida Senator had a brutal case of “whataboutism,” comparing the Uvalde school shooting to the NBA’s business relationships with China.
Prior to the Heat’s Eastern Conference Finals Game 5 loss to the Boston Celtics Wednesday night, Miami held a moment of silence for the 21 lives lost in the tragic shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. After the remembrance, Miami’s public address announcer urged fans in attendance to contact their local representatives and “leave a message demanding their support for common-sense gun laws.”
In response to the stance taken by the NBA and the Miami Heat, Rubio fired off multiple tweets criticizing the league for its business relationships with China.
The @NBA doesn’t like to talk about the billions they make from a China that enslaves Uyghur Muslims and harvests their organs
But they have no problem politicizing a horrific tragedy in America pic.twitter.com/VUXpOBbw7j
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 26, 2022
Since @NBA @MiamiHeat is so committed to social justice and has pledged to “speak the truth” when can we expect you to condemn the genocide of Uyghur Muslims being committed by your business partners in China? pic.twitter.com/KisEdAdxJD
— Marco Rubio (@marcorubio) May 26, 2022
Thursday on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Scarborough was informed about Rubio’s criticisms of the NBA and the MSNBC host ripped the Florida Senator for attempting to distract from the country’s gun control problem.
“It’s a, ‘Look over there. Look over there. Let’s talk about healthcare’ even though [Texas Governor] Greg Abbott slashes funding on healthcare. ‘Let’s talk about violent video games’ even though there are violent video games all over the globe and yet we in America have the gun problem,” Scarborough ranted.
Joe Scarborough went off on Marco Rubio for attacking the NBA pic.twitter.com/OR3wq0CnYw
— Brandon Contes (@BrandonContes) May 26, 2022
“Now, ‘Let’s talk about China?’ He’s 20 minutes, 30 minutes from Parkland? He says, ‘Let’s talk about China?’ The whataboutism, there is no whataboutism. If Americans getting slaughtered, Marco, makes you talk about China, if you see, oh, I don’t know, if you see these little children who have been slaughtered, you don’t want to talk about that slaughter, you don’t want to talk about Americans being killed, you want to talk about China? Nobody’s buying that bullsh*t, Marco. Nobody. Nobody.”
It’s fair to question the NBA for profiting off its business relationships with China considering the country’s deplorable human rights violations, specifically to its community of Uyghur Muslims. But it’s a separate issue from what occurred Tuesday in Texas.
To say the league can’t demand social justice and change in the United States, especially after 19 children were murdered at school, is inane.
[MSNBC]
