Team and media buses on the way back to the hotels after the Lakers’ Game 5 victory over the Rockets were halted en route by BLM protesters.
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In phone cam footage obtained by NBA reporters in the bubble, BLM protesters inside the Disney World complex have been spotted trying to stop buses from going to their destination.
The footage shows that while the protesters weren’t too rowdy, they mistook the media bus to be a team bus and tried to get support from them.
BLM Supporters stop NBA Bus, demand support from LeBron James
The protesters who stopped the bus were probably unaware of which bus is plying for players and which one is designated for media members.
In their haste to garner the sympathy and support of the NBA, they tried this puzzling tactic of stopping them reaching their team hotels in order to be able to interact with them.
The signs that they were holding show that they were demanding help from ‘LeBron James’. They were asking the Lakers star to help them out.
#BLM protest outside the media bus on way back to the hotel blocking bus. pic.twitter.com/4r6EsKwitP
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 13, 2020
They’ve now let the bus come through. pic.twitter.com/3pnMvls0qK
— Tim Reynolds (@ByTimReynolds) September 13, 2020
The protest was carried out for Salaythis Melvin, a black man, who was killed in a Florida mall parking lot last month.
With chants of, “Black Lives Matter,” the protest was against the Orange County Sheriffs Department against the killing of Salaythis Melvin. Deputies shot and killed the 22-year-old black man in the Florida Mall’s parking lot last month.
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) September 13, 2020
Why a protest in the NBA Bubble?
The NBA is already doing its bit in promoting social justice and racial equality. As a matter of fact, Black Lives Matter is a message inscribed on all the courts in the Disney World complex.
The players and owners have come together in the middle of the playoffs to even set a joint task force to work on racial equality programs and lobby for inclusiveness in the government.
With all this said and done, it made little sense for the protesters to try and rope in player support in the manner that they have.
They should realize that players are supposed to be isolating themselves as much as they can to stay free of the coronavirus threat.
