As part of a promotional tour to bring the NBA to countries outside of the U.S., the Rockets played a preseason game against the Pelicans in China earlier this week. While the team was there, guard Bobby Brown—who has actually spent some time playing in China—wrote his name in chalk on the Great Wall of China and posted a photo of it on the Chinese social media site Weibo along with the message, "Had a blast at the Great Wall of China today."
Writing on the Great Wall of China is a big no-no, though, so Brown's social media post was panned immediately. He eventually took it down but not before people called him out for what he had done. "Are you proud of your carving?" one user wrote. "This is a part of world heritage, not the toilet of your home."
In addition to deleting his post, Brown later sent out an apology through the Rockets. "We were out enjoying the Great Wall," he said. "I never [had] been, it was my first time. I wrote my name on the wall in chalk. I saw different writings—I didn't mean any harm by it. I made a mistake. I could have just put my hand over it and erased it. It will never happen again. I've been playing in China for three years now and I have the utmost respect for the Chinese culture, and the way of living here. I pretty much adapted, coming from the States, here for three years. My teammates, the fans in Shenzhen and the fans all over were great to me, and I just want to sincerely apologize for that."
The 32-year-old Brown is a longshot to make the Rockets' roster, and this incident probably won't help matters. He last played in the NBA back in 2010 as a reserve for the Clippers.
