LeBron James has been in the news for more than just basketball and Anthony Davis trade rumours.
Advertisement
A couple of nights back, LeBron spoke about how the big white NFL owners treated their player like slaves.
He questioned the ‘slave mentality’ in American Football, but admitted that the NBA allowed its players to be themselves.
“In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” James said
“And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f*** I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all.’
“The players are who make the ship go. We make it go. Every Sunday, without Todd Gurley and without Odell Beckham Jr., without those players, those guys, there is no football. And it’s the same in the NBA.” he added.
LeBron was particularly appreciative of the NBA commissioner, Adam Silver for having an open culture in the NBA, letting the players express whatever they felt.
“I’m so appreciative in our league of our commissioner,” James said.
“He doesn’t mind us having … a real feeling and to be able to express that. It doesn’t even matter if Adam agrees with what we are saying, he at least wants to hear us out. As long as we are doing it in a very educational, nonviolent way, then he’s absolutely OK with it.”
However, a day after he raised concerns about racism, LeBron is caught in a social media gaffe himself, having posted anti-semitic lyrics.
He posted a story on Instagram wherein he quoted a song from the American rapper, 21 Savage, ‘We getting that Jewish money. Everything is Kosher.’.
Twitter was quick to point out this mistake from LeBron, who for sure wouldn’t have appreciated a post highlighting a stereotype about ‘blacks’.
Surprised LeBron, who makes very few mistakes, put this out. Does quoting lyrics from a song absolve the person quoting from the responsibility behind the words? I’d argue no, especially with a following of 45 million. pic.twitter.com/efv9gkXres
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 23, 2018
Jews make up 1.4% of the US population, so I expect people to not understand why saying “getting that Jewish money” is offensive. That Jews are disproportionately wealthy to their population does not take away from the fact that the term “Jewish $” means Jews are ALL ABOUT $.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) December 23, 2018
I get it’s a music lyric but the ‘Jewish money’ stereotype is as old and dangerous an antisemitic trope that exists. LeBron needs to be better
— Yaron Weitzman (@YaronWeitzman) December 23, 2018
Strong weekend for LeBron: call white NFL owners slave masters & now going after Jewish people too. Good thing black people can’t be racist. https://t.co/2Oaz6ugL7K
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) December 23, 2018
So, Lebron James got upset at Phil Jackson’s use of “posse” (because it’s a negative stereotype against blacks people), but thinks he’s entitled to use “Jewish money” and “kosher” (negative stereotypes against Jews)? pic.twitter.com/2osukS2Odi
— Rebecca (is trying to breathe) 🍀 🏀 (@dorothyofisrael) December 23, 2018
Creator of TV show Entourage too called out LeBron for this anti-semitic post, one which has been regularly used in history to mock the Jews.
Do you think LeBron deserves criticism for this as he has often been very outspoken about racism and how it affects the athletes and the people from the black community?
