By Abdulla Gaafarelkhalifa
On January 17, 2022, Chamath Palihapitiya, CEO of Social Capital, chairman of Virgin Galactic, and minority owner of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, took to Twitter to apologize for his comments about the plight of the Uyghurs of China during an All-In podcast episode.
Important issues deserve nuanced discussions. Some clarifying comments: pic.twitter.com/St2jccsu05
— Chamath Palihapitiya (@chamath) January 18, 2022
Enes Kanter Freedom, an NBA star and Uyghur social justice advocate, shared the podcast episode in which Palihapitiya stated, “Nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghurs, OK?” He added after being asked to elaborate, “... I’m telling you a very hard, ugly truth, OK, of all the things that I care about, yes, it is below my line.”
Freedom told CNN’s New Day host that he was “very angry, disappointed, and disgusted” with the remarks and said what is happening to the Uyghurs is “one of the worst murder abuses in the world today.” He also appeared on FOX News, telling the host that Palihapitiya “pretends to care about social values but only cares about money and promoting CCP propaganda.
The Warriors stated shortly after, “As a limited investor who has no day-to-day operating functions with the Warriors, Mr. Palihapitiya does not speak on behalf of our franchise, and his views certainly don’t reflect those of our organization.”
In his apology tweet, Palihapitiya acknowledged that he sounded apathetic to the Uyghur situation and shared that he was born in Sri Lanka before his family fled due to the atrocities taking place there. He finished by stating, “my belief is that human rights matter, whether in China, the United States, or elsewhere. Full stop.”
Many members of the Uyghur community responded to his apology tweet. One Twitter user shared that many of his family members were arrested and imprisoned and that he was forced to divorce his own wife.
I am Uyghur myself. Chinese government sentenced my mon to 10 years, my two brothers Adil and Tursun to 10-15 years in prison.and they forced my wife to divorce me and I can’t speak to my 10 year daughter. Because I speak about what happened. We need explanations.
— Tayir Imin Uyghurian (@Uyghurian) January 18, 2022
Another shared the video below from the Uyghur Tribunal.
Tickets for the second & final set of hearings are now live! Please go here -> https://t.co/hYHGAKdvC0
You DO NOT need to book a ticket if you intend to watch the hearings online.
Share our content. Attend the hearings. Spread the word. Donate -> https://t.co/tCsxqSbnrs pic.twitter.com/RARPMJErxr— Uyghur Tribunal (@TribunalUyghur) August 9, 2021
Others have pointed out that Palihapitiya’s apology lacked an acknowledgment of the genocide, as many do in the NBA.
You forgot to mention "Uighurs" and "Genocide" in your statement.
— Peter McLasso (@PeterMcCormack) January 18, 2022
