NBA Player Gets Crucified Online for Vandalizing the Great Wall of China

NBA player Bobby Brown was on a goodwill tour in China when he thought it would be a nice gesture to scribble his autograph and jersey number on the Great Wall.

The Houston Rockets guard then posted a photo of his creation on the Chinese social media site Weibo. “Had a blast at the Great Wall of China today,” the caption on the now deleted post read.

The Rockets, along with the New Orleans Pelicans, visited the country to participate in the 10th edition of the China Games to play a pair of preseason games while sharing some basketball love with the Chinese NBA fans.

What Brown did, however, was far from spreading goodwill as writing graffiti on the Great Wall is against the law.

According to the South China Morning Post, the annoyed fans were quick to point out his error:

“Are you proud of your carving?” asked one netizen. “This is a part of world heritage, not the toilet of your home.”

After a barrage of criticisms, Brown posted an emoji-filled apology.

“I’m so sorry for this!! I apologize I didn’t mean any harm by this, I respect the Chinese culture, I made a [sic] honest mistake … hope you forgive me,” said the 32-year-old point guard on a post that was also later deleted.

An official apology was later issued through a statement by the Rockets, according to ESPN.

“We were out enjoying the Great Wall. I never 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.”