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“I did not intend my tweet to cause any offence to Rockets fans and friends of mine in China,” Morey quickly tweeted Monday, but it was by then too late.

Among other retaliatory measures, Reuters reports that Chinese state television has now said it will not be airing NBA exhibition games that are slated to be played in China this week.

The NBA first came out on China’s side, saying that, “we recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable.”

A more strident version of the statement posted in Chinese by the league read: “We are extremely disappointed in the inappropriate remarks made by Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey.”

Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta said Morey, in tweeting his protest, did not speak for the Rockets.

However, after a backlash from within the U.S. — including from lawmakers — on Tuesday the NBA seemed to switch its stance, with Commissioner Adam Silver saying freedom of expression should be protected.

“The NBA will not put itself in a position of regulating what players, employees and team owners say or will not say,” Silver said in a statement, CNN reported. “We simply could not operate that way.”

Photo by Kyodo/via REUTERS

Blizzard

On Tuesday it was announced that top Hong Kong gamer Chung “Blitzchung” Ng Wai had been kicked out of a tournament by Activision Blizzard Inc., a U.S. game developer, after making his own gesture in support of the Hong Kong protesters.