The NBA regular season may have been on hiatus for the All-Star break, but LeBron James certainly wasn’t taking time off from his social responsibility following lazy, trite criticism from a Fox News host. Laura Ingraham, star of the network’s “The Ingraham Angle,” targeted, apropos of seemingly nothing, NBA stars Kevin Durant and LeBron James as two Americans who should stay in their lanes when it comes to social issues plaguing the nation.
Her exact words:
“Must they run their mouths like that? Unfortunately, a lot of kids — and some adults — take these ignorant comments seriously. Look, there might be a cautionary lesson in LeBron for kids: This is what happens when you attempt to leave high school a year early to join the NBA. And it’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid a hundred million dollars a year to bounce a ball. Oh, and LeBron and Kevin: You’re great players but no one voted for you. Millions elected Trump to be their coach. So keep the political commentary to yourself or, as someone once said, shut up and dribble.”
James often takes the high road when responding to such indictments, doing so in a positive and measured fashion — and he did exactly that when speaking to the media at the All-Star Game.
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“‘We’re back to everything I’ve been talking about over the last few years,’ James said to the media. ‘It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying has been correct for her to be having that type of reaction.
We will definitely NOT shut up and dribble. I’m definitely not going to do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to the kids who feel like they don’t have a way out and need somebody to lead them out of the situation they’re in.’
LeBron wasn’t the only NBA player to respond to the blanket dismissal of players’ opinions. Draymond Green summed up Ingraham’s thoughts as “embarrassing” and a demonstration of “where we really are” today.
Kevin Durant, the other NBA player called out by name, spoke to USA Today about the remarks and was a bit more blunt in his response, calling it “racist.”
He continued, “It didn’t hit me. Ignorance is something I try to ignore. That was definitely an ignorant comment. I do play basketball, but I am a civilian and I am a citizen of the United States, so my voice is just as loud as hers, I think — or even louder.”
