Op-Ed May 9, 2025 Why is Saudi Arabia at the Gold Cup? It’s the latest in the Kingdom’s soft power campaign Last month, the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf) held an official draw in Miami, Florida for the 2025 Gold Cup, the premier biennial tournament for men’s football on the continent.
Op-Ed Mar 19, 2025 Kirsty Coventry—the Soft Face of Zimbabwe’s Dictatorship—Could Be the Next President of the IOC | Opinion The International Olympic Committee (IOC) is set to select a new president this week to succeed Thomas Bach. In a field of seven candidates, Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry, Africa’s most decorated Olympian, could make history as the first woman to head the IOC.
Blog Post Mar 11, 2025 The Playbook: How Syria’s brutal Assad regime used football to maintain power Welcome to The Playbook, an explainer series from HRF’s Sports & Dictators program that explores the intersection of sports and politics in authoritarian regimes and decodes the disturbing narratives behind the games we love.
Publication Feb 24, 2025 John Legend’s Kigali Concert: A Night of Music Amidst Regional Tensions Grammy award-winning artist John Legend delivered a mesmerizing performance in Kigali, Rwanda, on February 21, 2025, despite mounting pressure to cancel the show..
Blog Post Feb 10, 2025 The Playbook: How Saudi Arabia uses tennis to present a facade of women’s reforms When Saudi Arabia hosted one of the most important events in professional women’s tennis, the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Finals, in November, it wasn’t, of course, without controversy. The New York Times put it this way:
Blog Post Oct 18, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 4: Soviet Sports propaganda When Tsar Peter I — better known as Peter the Great — visited England in 1689, he arranged what has been called the “first international boxing match” in the garden of the nobleman’s home.
Blog Post Sep 6, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 3: Post-WWII Soft Power Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 US senators call out NBA’s relationship with Rwanda dictator Paul Kagame: ‘Putting profit over principle’ Two United States senators have accused the NBA of “putting profit over principle,” which was detailed in a letter sent to commissioner Adam Silver…
Publication Aug 27, 2024 Oregon Sen. Merkley raises concerns over reported NBA ties to Rwandan dictatorship Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley sent a letter to National Basketball Association Commissioner Adam Silver on Tuesday, raising concerns over the organization’s reported ties to dictators.
Publication Aug 27, 2024 NBA under fire: U.S. Senators slam league’s ties to controversial Rwandan leader The NBA finds itself in the hot seat once again, but this time, it’s not over a controversial call or a player feud-it’s a matter of global ethics.
Blog Post Aug 9, 2024 A History of Sports & Dictators, Part 2: The Rise of Fascism Long before the inception of the Olympic Games in Ancient Greece, sports have been used to distract the masses, test foreign policies, thaw diplomatic tensions, and broadcast political and social messaging.
Publication Jul 26, 2024 How the NBA got into business with an African dictator In the summer of 2018, inside a national arena that felt more like a small-college gym, the NBA commissioner shot free throws with the president of Rwanda.
Op-Ed Jul 19, 2024 Authoritarian Qatar puts 2,000 cops and armoured cars on the streets of Paris Two weeks before the Olympic Games are set to kick off in Paris, Qatari security forces, equipped with armoured vehicles and urban camouflage livery, arrived in the French capital to help “secure” the global event.
Publication May 17, 2024 Bad Business In my Impromptus today, I have some sports — starting with Simone Biles — and some presidential politics — a lot of that — and some language — the shape-shifting of English — and other matters. Try it here.
Blog Post Feb 9, 2024 A History of Sports and Dictators, Part 1: From Ramses II to Rome’s Bread & Circuses In the Olympic Games of 416, Athenian statesman and military general Alcibiades fielded seven teams in one of the most prestigious Olympic events, the four-horse chariot race known as the quadriga.
Blog Post Jan 12, 2024 Fueling Ambition: Aramco’s pivotal role in Saudi Arabia’s sports expansion In November 2023, news broke that Aramco—Saudi Arabia’s state-owned oil and energy giant—was set to complete a “significant sponsorship” deal with FIFA that would make it the football governing body’s biggest sponsor over the coming decade.
Publication Nov 9, 2021 Justin Bieber Slammed by Human Rights Activists Ahead of Saudi Arabia Concert Justin Bieber is being accused by a human rights organization chaired by former chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov of becoming a “pawn” of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman if he performs in Saudi Arabia next month.
Publication May 11, 2021 Akon’s Romance with Dictatorship Another chapter was recently written in the ongoing romance between celebrities and dictators. This time the dictator seeking to launder his reputation and distract from his crimes was Uganda’s Yoweri Museveni.
Publication Aug 6, 2020 Tyga Cancels Belarus Concert Criticized as “Propaganda Stunt” Rapper Tyga has been urged by the Human Rights Foundation to cancel a concert in Belarus organized by its “dictator” ruler and due to take place the night before a presidential election.
Publication Jul 9, 2019 Nicki Minaj pulls out of Saudi Arabia performance following backlash from human rights activists Hip-hop star Nicki Minaj said that she is no longer headlining a concert in Saudi Arabia this month after her decision to perform in the staunchly conservative nation generated backlash from human rights groups.
