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Image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com

A sign company has decided not to display an ad featuring LeBron James. The ad highlighted his refusal to speak out against China human rights abuse.

The National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) in Virginia wanted to post a billboard of James with a Chinese flag covering his mouth with the message, “Silence is Violence.” NLPC chairman Peter Flaherty said, “When it comes to human rights in China, silence is indeed violence. We should be able to call LeBron on his hypocrisy without this censorship.”

The OOH Outfront Media advertising company, however, declined the ads, which would have brought in “hundreds of thousands” of dollars. The ad firm said it would only run them without James’ image. “We cannot accept the ad as it is right now. The Chinese flag is OK, and the silence is violence is ok,” a spokesperson for the firm said.

James has often spoken out about social issues in the US, but he has been criticized for his stance against the Houston Rockets’ general manager Daryl Morey, who has expressed support for protesters in Hong Kong. James claimed Morey “wasn’t educated on the situation.”



The NLPC, however, criticized James for not speaking about the “slave labor” employed to make his sneakers.







[via B&T, cover image via s_bukley / Shutterstock.com]

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