Taiwanese-American basketballer Jeremy Lin, who plays for a Chinese team, was fined 10,000 yuan (US$1,400) for “inappropriate remarks” on social media about quarantine facilities ahead of a game, the China Basketball Association said yesterday.
Lin, who plays for the Loong Lions Basketball Club, made “inappropriate remarks about quarantine hotel-related facilities” where the team stayed on Wednesday ahead of a game, the association said.
It said that “caused adverse effects on the league and the competition area.”
Photo: AP
The Chinese Communist Party is trying to crush criticism of the human cost and disruption of its “zero COVID-19” strategy, which has confined millions of people to their homes.
Protesters have been detained, and photographs and videos of events deleted from Chinese social media.
Police fanned out across Shanghai, Beijing and other cities to try to prevent additional protests.
The association gave no details of Lin’s comments and there was no sign of them on his account on the Sina Weibo platform.
Shanghai’s the Paper reported that Lin posted a video complaining about hotel workout facilities in Zhuji, Zhejiang Province, ahead of games next week.
“Can you believe this is a weight room?” Lin was quoted as saying. “What kind of garbage is this?”
The Paper said that the video was deleted after “the situation was clarified” that the hotel was only for a brief stay required by regulations.
A representative of Vision China Entertainment, which says on its Web site that it represents Lin, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Telephone calls to the Loong Lions Basketball Club headquarters in Guangzhou were not answered.
Lin, born in California to parents from Taiwan, was the first American of Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA.
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