December 6, 2021



Mr. Wycliffe K. Grousbeck, CEO & Team Governor

Mr. H. Irving Grousbeck, Managing Partner

Mr. Stephen Pagliuca, Managing Partner

Mr. Robert Epstein, Managing Partner

Mr. Brad Stevens, President of Basketball Operations

Mr. Ime Udoka, Head Coach



The Boston Celtics

226 Causeway Street, Fourth Floor

Boston, MA 02214



To the Owners, Management, and Head Coach of the Boston Celtics,



We are writing to you as Nobel Laureates regarding Enes Kanter Freedom, a professional basketball player for the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association and outspoken advocate for human rights, democracy, and freedom of religion.



Enes has courageously advocated for human rights, especially in China and Turkey.  His work has been featured in major news outlets globally and he is a strong supporter of democracy and self-determination in Taiwan and Hong Kong.  In fact, Taiwan's President, Tsai Ing-Wen, recently commended Enes's activism on Twitter.  Enes also has taken on other authoritarian regimes.  After criticizing Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan for committing gross human rights abuses, Enes was banned from the country and his passport was revoked.  As importantly, in this advocacy, he has also highlighted the need for all companies to prioritize human rights over corporate profit.



We commend the Celtics for its important work in the community that it conducts through the Boston Celtics Shamrock Foundation and its United for Social Justice Fund.  These are important efforts.  That said, we cannot emphasize enough how critical it is that the Celtics continue to protect Enes's right to freedom of speech, despite the many nefarious forces that undoubtedly are pressuring your team to drop him as a player.  The Celtics now face a defining moment: Will it make the hard choice to stand with Enes or will it succumb to the pressure and prioritize profit over its values?  We hope theCeltics will take a lesson from how the San Francisco 49ers and the National Football League utterly failed to address the serious and legitimate concerns raised by Colin Kaepernick and instead cancelled him.  Making the wrong decision here would be a permanent stain on Boston Celtics.  We urge you to stand on the right side of history.



Sincerely,