U.S. Senator Josh Hawley (R, MO) slammed sportswear giant Nike for canceling its U.S. flag-themed shoes ahead of Independence Day, even as it bows to the demands of “Chinese Communists” when it comes to selling their products.
Hawley took to Twitter to criticize the shoemaker after it pulled the patriotic shoe because former NFL player Colin Kaepernick complained that the ’76 flag was “offensive” and a “symbol” of oppression and slavery.
“Nike thinks American flag is symbol of oppression?” Hawley wrote on Twitter on Tuesday. “What planet are you on? Nike gladly allows Chinese Communist Party to tell it what products to sell while building its business around sweatshop labor. Nike is anti-American, pure & simple.”
In a follow-up, Hawley added that Nike had become an example of all that is wrong about corporate America.
“Nike is a symbol of everything wrong with the corporate economy,” the Sen. wrote. “They take advantage of our laws but send jobs overseas for sweatshop wages, partner w repressive regimes, aggressively avoid paying any US taxes, and then tell Americans to shut up and buy their stuff.”
Indeed, show just how right Hawley is, a recent report by CNN revealed that Nike pulled some of its products from shops in China after one of its designers came to the support of democracy protesters in Hong Kong.
Nike pulled the products created by the designer so as not to upset Chinese authorities.
“We have withdrawn from China a small number of products that were designed by a collaborator,” a Nike (NKE) spokesperson told CNN Business last month.
Nike pulled a line of shoes made in partnership with Japanese streetwear label Undercover. The company is led by designer Jun Takahashi. In June, the company tweeted out a photo of the protesters with a caption reading, “No Extradition To China. Go Hong Kong!”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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