Yesterday, NBA superstar Lebron James used his status to make a statement. He used his superstar name to conduct a lecture on Charlottesville. It’s puzzling. Besides the fact that, as an athlete, Mr. James has no business lecturing people on the problems happening in Charlottesville, he has no connection to the events, the people and has no inside information on the White House, United States politics and any real informative opinion on the matter. But yet, Lebron James felt the need to go to the public and lecture them on the events.
At the lecture, he called Donald Trump the “so-called President” and proceeded to say “shout-out to all the innocent people in Charlottesville” according to the Associated Press. I actually refused to publish their story in my sports section because of all the problems with what Lebron James is doing.
People rallied, cheered and cried during this. I understand that James has done a lot for the schools in the area, but to rally behind James for speaking out on a topic he has no business talking about is just baffling.
James has endorsed Hillary Clinton in the past. It’s no surprise that he doesn’t like Trump. The problem I have with the lecture is that James is injecting his ill-informed opinion on a topic that he shouldn’t be in front of people that don’t know any better. James has given to these people their entire lives with schools and scholarships and such. They don’t know any better than to just trust everything James says. Then to take down about the President of the United States of America is disrespectful to the country. As a citizen, I give the President the utmost respect, regardless if I agree with their politics (James clearly does not and is using it against the President). His comments are making the statement that Lebron James is more important than the President of the United States. James plays basketball for a living. In no way is that more important than what the President does and faces every day in the White House.
It’s another case of a liberal athlete using their status as a way to let their ill-informed opinion be heard. People follow him and his opinion because of his basketball ability, not because of how informed he is about U.S. politics. It’s unfortunate really. It’s another case of sports trying to mingle with politics, the latest fad in sports (Colin Kaepernick, Michael Bennett).
The beauty of sports is that you don’t have to deal with politics. You escape from the realities of life when you watch a sporting event. For three to four hours of your life, nothing else matters except your team winning. You can block out everything else. It’s what makes sports the best thing in the world. But now athletes are crossing the boundaries, trying to infuse politics into sports and ultimately ruining the games.
So I ask Mr. James to keep his ill-informed opinions to himself. Stick to what you do best, playing basketball and keep your politics out of the game.
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