China’s professional basketball league said former NBA star Jeremy Lin has been fined $1,400 for his criticism of Covid-19 quarantine facilities.
Lin, who now plays for the Guangzhou Loong Lions in the Chinese Basketball Association, received a fine for “inappropriate remarks about quarantine hotel-related facilities” that the team was using on Wednesday, per the Associated Press. The CBA said that Lin’s comments “caused adverse effects on the league and the competition area.”
“Can you believe this is a weight room?” Lin said in a since-deleted video posted to social media, according to Shanghai-based outlet the Paper. “What kind of garbage is this?” The outlet said the video was deleted after Lin realized that the hotel was meant only for a short stay.
Lin’s comments follow the protests that broke out last weekend in response to an apartment fire in Urumqi that killed ten people and injured nine. Protesters believe that the strict lockdowns under China’s zero-Covid policy trapped the residents and slowed the response of emergency services. While Beijing quickly cracked down on the protests, sending security forces to the streets to round up protesters, the CCP also appeared on Thursday to be pulling back on Covid-19 restrictions in several areas. Several cities allowed shopping malls, supermarkets, and other businesses to reopen on Friday.
Lin was born in California to parents from Taiwan. He played for the Golden State Warriors in 2010, becoming the first American of Chinese or Taiwanese descent to play in the NBA. He later played for several other teams, including the New York Knicks and the Toronto Raptors.