Former NBA star Dwight Howard says ‘Free Palestine’ tweet nearly got him fired

Former NBA star Dwight Howard recently shared a revealing anecdote about a 2014 tweet that almost killed the NBA champion’s career.

In an interview on the Gauds show with Ray Daniels on Monday, Howard talked about the intense fallout he experienced almost as soon as his tweet went live.

“When you’re in the NBA, there are a lot of things you want to say – things you could say – but you know if you say them, there will be repercussions. You can get in a lot of trouble,” Howard said in the interview.

“A couple of years ago, when I played for the Houston Rockets, I tweeted ‘Free Palestine’ and I almost got kicked out of the league for it. I was trying to figure out why, you know what I’m saying?”

In the interview, Howard describes a 2014 visit to a Houston movie theatre where he was approached by a group of Palestinian fans. They expressed their admiration and asked to watch the film with him. Known for his frequent interactions with fans, Howard says he agreed warmly.

After the movie, while taking photos with the group, the fans spoke about the struggles in their homeland and asked him to raise awareness. 

Moved by their plea, the former NBA star reflected on the importance of using his platform. Shortly after, he tweeted “Free Palestine” – a gesture to shed light on his fans’ experiences.

Following the tweet, he says that within minutes, he started receiving calls from the NBA commissioner, agents, and people working with his foundation.

“You’ve got to erase this tweet. You’ve got to take this down. You’re going to get in trouble,” Howard was told. According to his account, Howard said he couldn’t understand what he had done wrong. 

A short clip from the interview went viral on social media, attracting comments from pro-Palestinian supporters who have been vocal about Israel’s war on Gaza, which has continued for 15 months now and so far claimed the lives of at least 45,936 Palestinians and displaced 1.9 million people in the besieged enclave.

Some social media users also complained about how the NBA is still hosting Israeli basketball teams while voices supporting Palestinians are continuously suppressed. 

Following the viral video, many wrote threads on how current and former NBA players demonstrated their support for Palestine over the years, including Houston Texans linebacker Azeez al-Shaair, Dallas Mavericks point guard Kyrie Irving and the Boston Celtics’ Jaylen Brown.

The conversation around the viral video also brought up older tweets on X and social media posts where people expressed support for Howard. In a post from 2020, one social media user said that during a time when “Israel had just killed 2,000 Palestinians in 2 months, Howards was forced by the NBA to apologise and refrain from talking about politics.”

For many online, a star NBA player recounting this story, drawing attention to the continuous pressure athletes face and highlighting the silencing of voices in solidarity with Palestinians is significant.

An eight-time NBA All-Star, Howard played for several franchises and won the NBA championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020.

Since the start of Israel’s war on Gaza on 7 October 2023, after the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel, many artists and athletes around the world have faced suppression and the silencing of their voices when speaking about the Palestinian cause.

Israel’s war on Gaza has also killed several artists and football players in the occupied Palestinian territories.