Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban recently made an appearance on The Megyn Kelly Show, where the billionaire was forced to defend his stance on China. Not just the Mavs owner's stance, though, the NBA-China relationship as a whole. Throughout the interview, Cuban condemned the human rights violations in the nation, but also later on admitted that despite the same, he still sees no problem with doing business with China.
Below are some of the most important bits of the interview, courtesy of Joe Concha of The Hill:
“The question remains, why won't you and the NBA explicitly condemn that?” Megyn Kelly asked Mark Cuban.
“I personally put a priority on domestic issues. I'm against human rights violations around the world,” Mark Cuban responded.
“Including the ones in China?” Megyn Kelly asked.
“China is not the only country with human rights violations,” the Mavs owner replied.
“Including China, Mark?” she later pressed after some cross-talk.
“Yes, including China. Any human rights violations anywhere are wrong,” Mark Cuban responded before also mentioning Turkey and some countries in Africa as other places where abuses occur.
At this point, it was clear where the interview was going. Cuban himself was feeling the pressure from the show's host, with Kelly showing no signs of backing down. Not long after, Kelly pressed Cuban again, this time zeroing in on his own business relations with the Asian nation:
“Why would the NBA take $500 million dollars-plus from a country that is engaging in ethnic cleansing?” Megyn Kelly later asked.
“So basically, you're saying nobody should do business with China ever,” Mark Cuban retorted.
“Why won't you just answer my question?” she replied.
“Because they are a customer,” the Mavs owner said. “They are a customer of ours, and guess what, Megyn? I'm OK with doing business with China. And so we have to pick our battles. I wish we could solve all the world's problems. But we can't.”
First off, we need to give credit to Kelly here for drawing out exactly what she wanted from Cuban. It was a huge risk, but one that paid off for her. Though, some will question what kind of “faith” those questions were asked in.
Second and more importantly, this is not a very good look for Cuban. The Mavs owner much confirmed how he is willing to turn a blind eye on the human rights violations in China just to be able to continue to earn profits from their business.
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