Say this for LeBron James: If he’s not the greatest athlete walking the face of the Earth, he’s on the short list. And in keeping with someone so gifted, he’s got elite-level chutzpah.
Elite level.
If you’re expecting one of those “shut up and dribble” columns, wherein a writer demands a politically-active athlete to mute his or her opinions and simply play ball, keep searching. This isn’t what you’re looking for.
I don’t care if LeBron has opinions, or what they are, but I must admit he caused me to raise an eyebrow after reading his comments from last Friday night.
James’ comments were in regard to a quote from soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who said the following about the outspoken NBA superstar:
“Do what you’re good at. Do the category that you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football, I’m no politician. If I’d been a politician, I would be doing politics. This is the first mistake famous people do when they become famous and come into a certain status. For me it is better to avoid certain topics and do what you’re best at doing, because otherwise it doesn't look good.”
LeBron, the political conscience of the NBA, was asked to comment on what Ibrahimovic said.
“At the end of the day, I will never shut up about things that are wrong,” he said following a victory over the Portland Trail Blazers. “I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, voter suppression, things that go on in our community because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that were going on, and I know what’s still going on because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice. I’m their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that might be going on, not only in my community but in this country and around the world.”
It’s hard to argue with LeBron’s willingness to stand up for important causes. I take no issue with the way he uses his platform as a high profile athlete to speak out for those causes.
My issue is with his hypocritical rhetoric.
Perhaps that’s too strong, but I don’t know what else to call it.
“I speak from a very educated mind,” James said last week. “So I'm kind of the wrong guy to go at because I do my homework.”
I don't doubt LeBron's educated mind, but I'm pretty sure he missed a night of homework.
The bottom line is this: LeBron is outspoken when it comes to social justice issues in the United States, but whisper soft when it comes to atrocities in China, where his silence stands to make him more money. He’s the face of the NBA (which also has a lot invested in China), and many consider him the wokest guy in the league, but he how much does he really care about human rights and social justice?
Certainly not enough to back up his big talk.
At one point LeBron had the temerity to tweet at then-President Donald Trump, calling him a “bum” after Trump rescinded his invitation for the Golden State Warriors to visit the White House in the wake of their 2017 championship.
LeBron’s tweet drew a great deal of publicity back then, some bad, but far more good, especially in the media where its treatment verged on giddiness. But the truth is, the basketball star was hardly tiptoeing through a field of landmines when he fired off the tweet. Calling Trump a bum on Twitter in 2017 — or anytime, really — hardly qualifies him for battle pay. He certainly knew he’d have the backing of the NBA and its sponsors; ditto for the media, chief among them ESPN, who delighted in James’ response.
It certainly wasn’t a situation in which Nike — LeBron’s shoe supplier — was going to cut him off.
So, we get it, LeBron’s a real tough guy on social media and in the eyes of the regular old day-to-day media. He went after a populist President in Trump, who may have had the support of millions of middle-class Americans, but given the NBA champion’s corporate and media backing, it ultimately wasn’t much of a fight. And it absolutely wasn’t a situation in which LeBron’s criticism of the President was going to get him thrown into a prison camp or anything like that. He lives in a free country that prizes its citizens’ First Amendment right to free speech.
It’s not like he lives in, oh I don’t know … China, where seditious comments about the government will, in fact, land you in a prion camp.
And here’s where we come to LeBron’s true arrogance; here’s where we see that elite-level chutzpah.
When he dropped that line about his “educated mind” it was as though he’d forgotten all about what happened in October of 2019, when the fabulously-woke NBA visited China and eventually ended up kowtowing to the Chinese government while completely ignoring the country’s horrific human rights atrocities.
Either LeBron isn’t nearly as educated as he insists, or he’s a hypocrite.
There isn’t much wiggle room anywhere else.
See, while King James talks a good game here in the United States, getting into tweet wars with the President (that’s as much on Trump as it is LeBron) and such, he’s a coward when it comes to China, where the government has been guilty of numerous human rights violations. Additionally, LeBron’s shoe company, Nike, is highly invested in China, both in terms of manufacturing and merchandising. Worse, Nike reportedly uses facilities that resemble prisons, complete with barbed wire, watchtowers and surveillance cameras.
Not exactly the picture of wokeism, is it?
Yes, I completely understand the argument that LeBron’s No. 1 fight is here in the U.S., where social justice reform is an issue, and James is trying to use his voice to help. But, clearly, LeBron sees himself as a serious social justice advocate, a “social justice warrior” so to speak. And being a King James-level social justice warrior is an all-or-nothing kind of calling.
I’m still waiting for LeBron and the NBA to show the same brashness they show in the United States, where freedom of speech allows them to use their notoriety to speak out against the government.
I’m still waiting for King James to fire off a tweet calling Xi Jinping a “bum” for his government’s human rights atrocities.
Still waiting.
Still waiting.
Still waiting.
Yeah, it’s just not gonna happen.
Morey, who was getting firsthand information from friends in Hong Kong, tweeted the following: “Fight For Freedom. Stand With Hong Kong.”
That’s not exactly what you’d call a threatening missive, right?
It’s fair to say the majority of Americans prize their freedom and would stand in support of other countries seeking similar social liberties.
So where was the controversy in Morey’s tweet?
Well, apparently his rather tame seven-word post was quite offensive to the Chinese government, which was poised to kick the NBA and its visiting teams right out of the country. The NBA, of course, is big in China and has interests there. The league immediately went into damage control and essentially threw Morey under the bus.
Here is the NBA’s official statement from October 2019:
“We recognize that the views expressed by Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey have deeply offended many of our friends and fans in China, which is regrettable. While Daryl has made it clear that his tweet does not represent the Rockets or the NBA, the values of the league support individuals' educating themselves and sharing their views on matters important to them.
We have great respect for the history and culture of China and hope that sports and the NBA can be used as a unifying force to bridge cultural divides and bring people together.”
The league’s initial response drew criticism from U.S. politicians on both sides of the aisle. Clearly it appeared the NBA was bowing to the Chinese government and protecting its financial interests.
To its credit, the NBA refused to fire Morey, even though the league said the Chinese government requested it do so.
And now getting back to King James …
Because he was one of the players inside the country at the time, LeBron appeared to panic, perhaps fearing some sort of a reprisal from the Chinese government. It’s certainly understandable that he’d be nervous about that, after all, China has a track record of that sort of thing.
At least that’s how he sounded when he got home at spoke with media members prior to a Lakers game in Los Angeles.
“I don't want to get into a (verbal) feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand, and he spoke,” James said. “And so many people could have been harmed not only financially, physically, emotionally, spiritually. So just be careful what we tweet and say and we do, even though, yes, we do have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negative that comes with that, too.”
Later, in an effort to clarify his position, James went directly to Twitter with a pair of posts.
“I do not believe there was any consideration for the consequences and ramifications of the tweet. I'm not discussing the substance. Others can talk about that,” James said in the first tweet.
“My team and this league just went through a difficult week. I think people need to understand what a tweet or statement can do to others. And I believe nobody stopped and considered what would happen. Could have waited a week to send it,” he added in a second tweet.
Huh?
What?
That’s as pathetic now as it was then. Actually, when one considers LeBron’s comments from last week, it just got more pathetic.
Granted, LeBron did face quite a bit of pushback from pundits after his 2019 debacle, but why does he keep getting what largely amounts to a free pass from the NBA press, and for that matter, the mainstream media in general?
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