Expelled from NBA for saying "free Palestine"
In an interview on the Gauds show with Ray Daniels on Monday, Howard talked about the intense fallout he experienced almost as soon as his tweet went live.
"When you're in the NBA, there are a lot of things you want to say - things you could say - but you know if you say them, there will be repercussions. You can get in a lot of trouble," Howard said in the interview.
"A couple of years ago, when I played for the Houston Rockets, I tweeted 'Free Palestine' and I almost got kicked out of the league for it. I was trying to figure out why, you know what I’m saying?"
In the interview, Howard talks about how a group of Palestinian moviegoers approached him during a 2014 visit to a Houston theater. They asked to see the movie with him after expressing their admiration. Howard, who is well-known for his numerous engagements with fans, says he enthusiastically accepted.
As they posed for pictures with the group after the film, the fans talked about the hardships in their country and urged him to spread awareness.
The former NBA player was moved by their request and considered the value of utilizing his position. In an attempt to illuminate his fans' experiences, he tweeted "Free Palestine" shortly after.
He said that minutes after posting the tweet, he began getting calls from agents, the NBA commissioner, and representatives of his foundation.
“You’ve got to erase this tweet. You’ve got to take this down. You’re going to get in trouble,” Howard was told. According to his account, Howard said he couldn't understand what he had done wrong.
A short clip from the interview went viral on social media, attracting comments from pro-Palestinian supporters who have been vocal about Israel’s war on Gaza, which has continued for 15 months now and so far claimed the lives of at least 45,936 Palestinians and displaced 1.9 million people in the besieged enclave.
Some social media users also expressed dissatisfaction at the NBA's continued sponsorship of Israeli basketball teams and the ongoing silencing of Palestinian-supporting views.
After the video went viral, many NBA players, including Jaylen Brown of the Boston Celtics, Kyrie Irving of the Dallas Mavericks, and Azeez al-Shaair of the Houston Texans, posted posts detailing their support for Palestine over the years.
The conversation around the viral video also brought up older tweets on X and social media posts where people expressed support for Howard. In a post from 2020, one social media user said that during a time when “Israel had just killed 2,000 Palestinians in 2 months, Howards was forced by the NBA to apologise and refrain from talking about politics.”
For many online, a star NBA player recounting this story, drawing attention to the continuous pressure athletes face and highlighting the silencing of voices in solidarity with Palestinians is significant.