#ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski responds to Missouri senator’s email: F–k you

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) sent a letter to NBA commissioner Adam Silver criticizing the league’s once-cozy and now-complicated relationship with China. The NBA’s most prominent reporter offered a blunt response to the Republican.

“F–k you,” wrote ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski — who didn’t use dashes in his writing — after being included in a press release with details of the letter.

Hawley, 40, posted a screenshot of the email, tweeting, “Don’t criticize #China or express support for law enforcement to @espn. It makes them real mad.”

Wojnarowski apologized soon afterward.

“I was disrespectful and I made a regrettable mistake,” Wojnarowski wrote on Twitter. “I’m sorry for the way I handled myself and I am reaching out immediately to Senator Hawley to apologize directly. I also need to apologize to my ESPN colleagues because I know my actions were unacceptable and should not reflect on any of them.”

ESPN also released a statement, declining to address whether Wojnarowski would be disciplined.

“This is completely unacceptable behavior and we do not condone it,” the statement said. “It is inexcusable for anyone working for ESPN to respond in the way Adrian did to Senator Hawley. We are addressing it directly with Adrian and specifics of those conversations will remain internal.”

As the NBA readies for its restart to the season at the end of July, the league is allowing players to showcase social justice messages on their playing jerseys, such as, “Equality,” “Black Lives Matter,” “Vote” and “I Can’t Breathe.” However, the league limited statements to an approved list, which excluded any commentary regarding China.

In Hawley’s letter to Silver, the former critically questioned whether “Free Hong Kong” could also be featured on the back of a player’s jersey, writing that the NBA’s “free expression appears to stop at the edge of your corporate sponsors’ sensibilities.”

In October, the league became embroiled in controversy in China, where the basketball-mad country has increased league revenue by billions of dollars. After Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey’s tweet — “Stand with Hong Kong” — in support of the city’s pro-democracy protests, the Chinese government canceled NBA games and events scheduled to take place in the country, while Chinese businesses cut or suspended longstanding ties with the Rockets and local fans vowed to boycott the league.

Last season, nearly 500 million people in China watched NBA programming through the country’s exclusive digital platform.