Producers' Pick | Enes Cantor Freedom on his Most Valuable Patriot Award

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I appreciate that. What is it like for you, because you're used to going into other countries playing on national teams, but you were with last night a bunch of people you probably, you know, they weren't the sports crowd. You know, they weren't the ESPN crowd. It was the Fox crowd.

About 7,000 people came, and who knows how many people just were just here, couldn't get tickets, but just wanted to walk around. You know, when they got up and started to chant freedom, it hit me so hard. My heart, my heart was just melting. It just showed that how kind they are, how nice they are, and I remember just while I was giving my speech, one of these ladies just scream and said, we are not, we are your family now. I just got so emotional. I really like couldn't say anything because I was like, Oh my God, this is just something so unique, something so beautiful, something so amazing. So it really touched my heart.

Yeah. So, and his cancer freedom, I should say that you changed your name. You added that because you really value that. And, and because you did that, you made a stand and it's cost you basically for now your basketball career. You're you're with me and I'm glad, but you're in great shape. You're 30 years old. You should be on the NBA roster.

You know, I'm still working out. I mean, I mean, I love basketball. You know, my, my whole life, I wanted to become an NBA player, which I did. I played 11 years in a league. I'm very thankful for it.

But unfortunately when you took on some of the problems were happening in China, just because of NBA in China, those billions of dollars of business and stuff, and there are so much endorsement deals, shoe sales, Jersey sales, TV deals. They're like, okay, your time is up here. You know, it's goodbye.

And that really hurt Celtic cut. Yeah. Right. Yeah.

They weighed you and you could have helped a lot of teams in the play. Oh my God. Yeah. I mean, I'm still 30. I can go out there and play, you know, I can start with many teams out there.

Seven foot, seven foot, two 55, ready to go. Never had a serious injury. Nope. Never.

I mean, I played 11 years and almost never missed a game. What does your agent say? My agent is this exactly what he said. I remember the first time I, there was the first game I took about the problems were happening in China.

He called me, said, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't work for the NBA book for you. So if you don't say anything that whatever happened in China that people are going to forget about this in three, four days, but I continue to continue to talk about it.

You're not going to be able to find any job. This guy coming up here. And this is exactly what happened.

He literally reached out 30 teams, all the coaches, all the GMs, all the presidents, they said, not one of them is interested. And did they like, you know, they'll let him know why or you just read it because that's legal. Obviously that I can go out there and sue them, which I'm probably going to do it. Yeah. You've talked to lawyers. Yes. I did talk to my lawyers, but I just, you know, this seven, eight months has been so busy. I was just going out there and giving speeches and stuff. But like, I think once I'm like, uh, now, uh, back at home, I'm definitely looking forward to suing them.

Wow. And then of course I would put everything on hold. Would you play in Israel or somewhere else? Uh, or would you play in Italy?

Good question. Well, unfortunately right now, the Turkish airlines sponsored in the Euro league, so it looks like it's going to be very tough to tell everyone you're from Turkey. And basically when you spoke out against Erdogan's crackdown, they cracked down on your family and they, they wanted to you to be extradited and jailed. My name is only interpolist still till this day.

What list? But it's a polest interpol. So it's like a red notice. Were you worried about going to the UK? You just came from the UK.

I just came from, were you worried? I mean, well, because they're not the EU anymore. I'm an American citizen now. Oh yeah. I had the American passport.

It's so, it feels so relaxed and so feels so amazing to just give them the American passport and they're like, well, you're good to go. And if you didn't have it, they would, you would not live left. Very ugly. Cause I remember the Knicks were going to go into London, actually. I didn't go and you didn't go. And I said, what's going on here?

Exactly. So no, if I, if I wasn't, didn't become an American citizen or didn't have an American passport, there was no way. And which I didn't, you know, till I become an American citizen, I didn't leave America for six years. So you had, you told me originally when you came in, when you were with the Celtics a couple of years ago, you said, yeah, I can't contact my family.

They checked the text messages. Your dad's a doctor. My dad was a doctor scientist and he got fired. He got fired. And my sister went to medical school for six years.

She still cannot find a job. My little brother was playing basketball, kicked down in every team just because of the same last name. So, and your other brother is playing? Other father plays basketball in Japan. Yeah.

In Japan. Okay. So they put my dad in jail for a while just because of I spoke out against the problems that happen in China and Turkey. Right. And you don't want responsibility. So if you reach out to your dad and they find the text message, you just have to call.

That'd be really bad. So that's a tough way to live. You can only contact your, your one brother. It's been nine years now that I have not seen or come in here with my mom and dad, because if I do, then they will be in trouble. Right.

They don't even want to take that chance, you know, but I talk to my brother and always ask him because my mom and dad do it. Now, what do you, what is your sense as you see the things with China and Taiwan heat up and our speaker of the house go over there. And the fact is there is a chips deal out there. That's going to have us divesting our technology from them. We have not removed the tariffs things between America and China are really getting bad. There's gotta be pressure on these corporations to pull out manufacturing as well as finance. You know, when the, the war started between Russia and Ukraine, I see all these corporations or pull out of Russia. I was like, if China was invaded, you know, Taiwan, I wondered if the same corporation, same CEO, same people will pull out of China. Why?

I mean, it's much more lucrative to be in China, as opposed to Russia. Exactly. I mean, it just, it just, I, I just have seen the hypocrisy, hypocrisy of the NBA and wall street and academia and big techs and stuff. It just, it just kills me inside. So, uh, and his cancer freedoms with us. So when you're watching the black lives riots and when you're at, because they say the inequity of race in America, and when you're seeing the all star game getting pulled out of, of Atlanta because of, uh, because of, uh, because they don't like the election law, it goes to another place.

No one, no one paid the price for that. We're going to take ethical stance. But then you sit there and go, wait a second, you know, the wiggers are being enslaved. They have to be Muslim too. And there's such a fear in this country of a Muslim hate because of nine 11, everyone's very vigilant about it, but we've turned our backs on the Muslim wiggers and we're still dealing with an increasingly oppressive new, uh, pre president of China. You know, when the players were standing up about what was happening in America, that from, from the first moment I knew that they're only doing it for their own PR because they know that they're not going to lose any kind of endorsement deals. They're not going to lose any kind of contracts or shoe sales or Jersey sales, but they know as soon as they stand up that the things are happening in China, they will be cut from the NBA immediately, you know? Uh, but when you look at China right now, there are three, four million, you know, Muslim ethnic groups, uh, called wiggers in concentration camps, getting tortured and raped every day. So I just couldn't sleep at night while my Muslim brothers and sisters were getting destroyed and killed on the other side of the world.

And I just, you know, I was like, this is bigger than basketball. So do they have to give up their religion? They do.

They do. Yeah. China pressured them so much and it just, there's been so much, you know, the reports out there, which is, you know, rape, you know, organ harvesting and surveillance cameras for civilization and abortion. Um, it's very unfortunate. Yeah.

I would say very unfortunate. So last night, uh, the Patriot awards took place. The first honoree was, uh, was Annis and I w I was one of the people that they gave you, uh, the award. Here is how, here's a portion of his speech, by the way, nothing written down.

Just off the top of the set, cut 28. The last eight, nine months has been very lonely. When you talk about some of the problems were happening in China and unfortunately the organization that I played in, it was a very tough times. That's what I will say.

That's what I've lived with it. But, uh, the people that I call my brothers, I'm referring to my teammates, you know, I had hundreds of teammates. I played 11 years in the league and I told them, this is bigger than basketball. This is bigger than NBA. This is bigger than ourselves. While we are, while we are dribbling the basketball in this country, on the other side of the world, people are losing their lives, losing their homes and losing their loved ones.

So we have to stand up for those innocent people. And, and just your, your fellow, your former teammates and all the teams you've been on the all star teams. I'm so disappointed in them. You know, I remember the first time I started to, uh, talk about the problems that happened in China. You know, they, they knew what's going on. I even told them like, listen, just join me. We'll be, we can create this moment together. They said, listen, we love you.

I think what you're doing is so amazing. We support you, but we just cannot do it out loud. I asked them why they said, well, we have shoe deals, endorsement deals.

We want to get another contract. I asked them one simple question. I was like, put yourself in their shoes. If your mother, if your daughter was getting tortured and raped every day, would you still pick money and business over your morals, values and principles?

No answer. But you also did something on your sneakers. I did talk about that. Well, I, when I was a kid, I remember whenever I watched an NBA game, the first thing I was looking at was the shoes, you know, and then the next day I was waking, I was like, dad, please buy those shoes for me. So I wanted to reach out to these artists around the world who've been oppressed by their government and created this, you know, non-slave labor shoes and put all the struggles on the shoes and go out there and play. So, because there was no rule against it during the NBA bubble, all the players were putting on their shoes, black lives matter, you know, uh, I can't breathe and George Floyd and all that stuff. So I'm like, there is no rule against it.

And now whenever I put free Tibet, free Uyghurs, free Hong Kong, stand with Taiwan, it becomes a problem. I just, and first game I remember was Madison square garden. Two gentlemen from the NBA came to me and said, take your shoes off.

Or are you going to get back? Who was saying, who said that? Yeah. The people who worked at the Celtics. I mean, they're the equipment managers and I was just shocked. I'm like, what are you talking about? I looked at the rule book.

There is no rule against it. And so while you've been getting so much, uh, you know, attention pressure from internationally, it was from China and the halftime and a halftime, all Celtics games are banned in China. I was like, well, that clearly shows my point.

That clearly shows the censorship and the dictatorship and that game I play zero minutes, which I played every game before that somehow they didn't want me to play that game. So I did. And he was just telling me about, well, it's this issue is that that issue, but he'd never, I mean, all the players would came to me and said, listen, man, you keep wearing those shoes. You're not going to play basketball again. So what do you want?

I was like, I'm wearing the shoes. And you had a few different designs, didn't you? Free Tibet, free Hong Kong, stand with Taiwan, free Uyghurs, uh, stop organ harvesting, uh, surveillance cameras. So I really wanted to expose the Chinese government for what they're doing wrong, you know, because I mean, it just, it was just, everybody was scared. Everybody talks about all the problems were happening in the world, but when it comes to one specific topic, China, they're silent because it's money. Exactly. Right.

And there's no, no hell to pay for putting down America right now. You know, I was very confused before the square COVID all the NBA players, whenever their season was over, before they go to vacation with their family, they were going to China. I was like, why are these people going to China? Why all my teammates all of a sudden just going to China to do a basketball camp. But now I know they go there. They, you know, try to come close with the government and they want to do some kind of businesses and try to get endorsement deals.

I'm like, this is crazy. Right. They don't need to teach Chinese into my basketball.

By the way, they're not getting it. I mean, is China any good? I mean, aren't they terrible? Yeah. Then they, they want to be great in soccer too.

They were terrible in soccer. I guess. I don't think there's a Chinese player in the league. I know.

I don't think so. Japan did Japan put some players in there. Were you a good soccer player? I am actually, I wanted to be a soccer player when I was growing up and you just kept growing and I just keep growing. I'm like, you know what?

I'm too tall and too slow for this game. So I'm just going to, I switched to the basketball center back. Uh, yes, of course. Yeah, no kidding. All right. Uh, and we have a few more minutes to end his cancer freedom.

Uh, he's got a few minutes for us cause the NBA does not have him on a roster and he is the reigning MVP, most valuable Patriot, 2022. Don't move. You listen to the Brian Kilmeade show. This is Molly Hemingway encouraging you to listen to my favorite podcast issues, et cetera. Every day you get in-depth interviews with host Todd Wilkin asking expert guests, substantive thought provoking questions on all of the important news and issues of our day. The expert guests are in culture, law, ethics, philosophy, theology, and apologetics, expert guests, expansive topics, always extolling Christ issues, et cetera.

The more you listen, the more you'll know it's Brian Kilmeade. The last thing I'm going to say, promise you the, I talk about the problems were happening in Turkey. I, last time I saw my family was nine years ago.

Last I talk about the problems were happening in China pretty much lost my career. So the one thing that I always do that I used to pray every night and say, God, please just let me see your, let me see my family one more time. But now I came here and see you guys, how warm you guys are treating me. So do you hear them? When you said I haven't seen my family nine years, you do hear the crowd? I did see that.

I mean, I've never heard anything like that as if it was a one-on-one. I know, you know, how many people knows after the show, I had so many DMs that people were inviting me to Thanksgiving last night, last night, I had like tons of like the, I was like, Hey, you know, come to our house. We are your family. Come to our Thanksgiving dinner. We want you to forget Christmas. We love you. We are now your family. It just shows that how amazing these people are.

Right. Tell the story. When you first came over here, you grew up learning that America was bad and how to burn the flag and how to walk on the flag in Turkey. And then when you come over here, you're in America and you get invited for Thanksgiving and you're how old and what did you think? So I came here for the first time I was 17 in a environment that I grew up in was just, obviously it was very tough because it was every day there was a different kind of propaganda telling me to hate America, telling me to hate Christians, hate Jewish people. And I came here for the first time, you know, my teammates invited me for the Thanksgiving dinner.

I'm like, I don't know if I should go, you know, because the last 17 years I grew up just thinking that the American people are like the worst in the world, you know? So, and then I was like, you know what? I give a promise to my mom.

I'm going to give it a shot. And I, like I said, last night, you know, I called one of my Turkish friends. I'm like, Hey, I'm going to this address. This is the address. I'm going to this, this friend's house.

If you don't hear from anything for the next two hours, call the cops. Did you have a good Thanksgiving? It was one of the best.

Right. It was, we ate Turkey. We ate all this like, I don't know, different kind of, I don't even know the names now.

It's just so many different food. No, I had an amazing time and it was one of the most beautiful. And it was great seeing you over the last two days. Congratulations on the award. Thank you. Thank you so much.