In the aftermath of products that were terribly received in the United States, both Disney and the NBA were sure to grovel to get back into the good graces of the Chinese Communist Party.
Disney’s live-action Mulan remake was not well received, doing poor numbers in the U.S. in part because people likely did not want to buy a pay-per-view remake of a cartoon classic on a streaming service they were already paying for. The film also didn’t go over well in China — but that didn’t stop Disney from licking the boots of the CCP.
In the credits of the film, Disney thanked groups connected to China’s concentration camps in the Xinjiang region. Disney has released a letter responding to the backlash, in which they said it was necessary to thank the groups in order to shoot the film in China. After all, it was imperative that Disney get those 78 seconds worth of shots filmed in Xinjiang (yes, you read that right).
Meanwhile, the NBA bribed its way back into Chinese broadcasts before the end of the 2020 NBA Finals. China had pulled all NBA broadcasts from their state-run network in October after Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey tweeted in support of the Hong Kong protests. While viewers in the U.S. largely tuned out the NBA Finals, the league bought its way back into Chinese broadcasts by donating around $1 million and medical equipment during the pandemic.
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban illustrated the dance on Megyn Kelly’s podcast. Cuban told Kelly that all human rights violations matter but that he is “OK with doing business with China. And so, we have to pick our battles.” Apparently, concentration camps, torture, and forced abortions and sterilizations are not the battles Cuban wants to pick. At least, not with roughly $500 million on the line.
It’s not just 78 seconds of filming for Mulan or the last couple of games of the season Disney and the NBA were hoping for. They hope to continue to make inroads in China, all while insulting their American audiences. Disney can threaten pro-life states such as Georgia, but it wants to rake in money from countries with concentration camps. For the NBA, the welcoming arms of the CCP let them pull All-Star festivities from states such as North Carolina.
Ironically, they are even willing to pursue this when China spites them. Mulan flopped in China as well as the U.S. While viewers in America tuned out the NBA season, Chinese viewers were never able to tune in. And yet, in pursuit of the Chinese market, both Disney and the NBA will go crawling back to China once again, no matter how many concentration camps they need to ignore.
