Senator Hawley accuses LeBron, Nike, NBA of profiting off slave labor in China

Originally Published July 21, 2020
By Morgan Phillips | Fox News

Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., accused major corporations such as Nike and the NBA, and those who profit off their endorsements such as LeBron James, of profiting off slave labor in China, after he introduced a bill to hold businesses accountable for having slave labor in their supply chain.

Hawley said on Fox News Tuesday that the NBA was a “classic” example, and that all of their Nike uniforms are made with forced labor in China’s Uyghur concentration camps.

“I would challenge the NBA, Adam Silver, all the endorsers of Nike products like LeBron to take a pledge that they will be slave free, that they will not use in their product lines slave labor,” Hawley said.

He challenged all corporate leaders to take a “#slavefree” pledge, saying if they cannot take it, “they need to drop the product line.”

On Monday Hawley introduced the Slave-Free Business Certification Act, which would “increase corporate supply chain disclosure requirements, mandates regular audits, requires chief executive officers to certify that their companies’ supply chains do not rely on forced, slave labor, and creates penalties for firms that fail basic minimum standards for human rights.”