Enes Kanter Freedom calls Eileen Gu 'traitor' for representing Workforce China

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Former NBA participant Enes Kanter Freedom condemned the American-born Workforce China Olympic skier Eileen Gu throughout an interview on Fox Information' "Ingraham Angle" on Tuesday.

"I am simply going to say it, she's a traitor," Freedom stated. "She was born in America. She was raised in America, lives in America, and chooses to compete towards her personal nation for, actually, the worst human rights abuser on the planet, China. She constructed her fame in a free nation, after which chooses to characterize an authoritarian regime."

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Silver medalist Eileen Gu of China attends the awarding ceremony of the freestyle snowboarding girls's freeski huge air occasion on the Milan-Cortina 2026 Olympic Winter Video games in Livigno, Italy, Feb. 16, 2026. (Hongxiang/Xinhua through Getty Pictures)

Gu has by no means spoken out publicly towards China's alleged human rights abuses, together with the nation's alleged systematic marketing campaign of repression towards Uyghurs and different predominantly Muslim ethnic minorities within the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Area, or the jailing of politician Jimmy Lai.

"She selected to play for a rustic that's actually liable for the deaths of tens of thousands and thousands of its personal individuals, and actually working a focus camp whereas we're speaking," Freedom stated, evaluating Gu's silence on the difficulty to LeBron James' declining a query about China's alleged human rights abuses in 2019.

"It is like a play," he stated. "Every time the human rights points are raised about China, all of them cease speaking about it."

Gu is the highest-paid Winter Olympic athlete on the earth, making an estimated $23 million in 2025 alone amid partnerships with Chinese language firms, together with the Financial institution of China, and western firms. Gu has stated she represents China for her mom, who was born there.

CONTROVERSIAL SKIER EILEEN GU SETTLES FOR SILVER AFTER DEFENDING GOLD MEDAL BID FALLS SHORT IN MILAN

China's Eileen Gu reacts after the second run of the Freestyle Snowboarding, Ladies's Freeski Slopestyle Last on the Livigno Snow Park, through the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy on Monday, Feb. 9, 2026. (David Davies/PA Pictures through Getty Pictures)

The Wall Road Journal reported final week that Gu and Zhu Yi, a fellow American-born determine skater who now competes for China, had been paid a mixed $6.6 million by the Beijing Municipal Sports activities Bureau in 2025 for "striving for wonderful ends in qualifying for the 2026 Milan Winter Olympics." In all, the 2 had been reportedly paid almost $14 million over the previous three years.

Gu has been the topic of world criticism since her choice to characterize China relationship again to the unique choice in 2019, and her first Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022. This yr, that criticism has ramped up, as she has received two silver medals and even responded to a query about President Donald Trump criticizing U.S. Olympian Hunter Hess for being crucial of the present state of America.

"I’m sorry that the headline that's eclipsing the Olympics needs to be one thing so unrelated to the spirit of the Video games. It actually runs opposite to all the pieces the Olympics must be," Gu informed reporters Monday.

"The entire level of sport is to convey individuals collectively. … One of many only a few frequent languages, that of the human physique, that of the human spirit, the aggressive spirit, the capability to interrupt not solely data, however particularly in our sport, actually the human restrict. How fantastic is that?"

Gu additionally claimed she had been "caught within the crossfire" herself.

"As somebody who has received caught within the crossfire earlier than, I really feel sorry for the athletes," Gu stated. "I hope that they will ski to their perfect."

Vice President JD Vance weighed in on the controversy surrounding Gu in a Tuesday interview on Fox Information' "The Story With Martha MacCallum."

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Ailing Eileen Gu of Workforce Individuals's Republic of China competes in run two of the Ladies's Freeski Large Air Last on day ten of the Milano Cortina 2026 Winter Olympic Video games at Livigno Snow Park on Feb. 16, 2026 in Livigno, Italy. (Patrick Smith/Getty Pictures)

"I don't know what her standing must be, I believe that is in the end as much as the Olympics Committee, I will not fake to wade into that," Vance stated.

"I definitely assume that somebody who grew up in the US of America who benefited from our training system, from the freedoms and liberties that makes this nation an important place, I'd hope they wish to compete with the US of America. So, I will root for American athletes, I believe a part of that's individuals who establish themselves as People. That is who I am rooting for on this Olympics."

Gu has received two silver medals in freestyle snowboarding in Milan Cortina, within the slopestyle and large air occasions. She has one closing occasion, the halfpipe, remaining on Saturday, the place she has the chance so as to add to her whole.

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Jackson Thompson is a sports activities reporter for Fox Information Digital masking crucial political and cultural points in sports activities, with an investigative lens. Jackson's reporting has been cited in federal authorities actions associated to the enforcement of Title IX, and in legacy media shops together with The New York Instances, The Los Angeles Instances, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Related Press and ESPN.com.