Bobby Burack
Videos by OutKick
LeBron James decided years back he would become an activist in hopes the second gig would make him even richer than basketball has. It worked. Somewhere in the process, though, LeBron miscalculated. He didn’t realize that being a spokesperson for the country’s most pressing issues also requires him to speak on topics that may not bolster his bottom line. While the media has accepted that LeBron won’t dare utter a word against China, it has been less accepting of his bizarre commentary on the COVID vaccine.
Surprisingly, someone other than OutKick finally said so. Even more surprisingly, it was Stephen A. Smith, who took a break from highly-flawed race-baiting on Monday to call James out.
“You either want to be out front and center, bringing a voice to issues,” Smith yelled. “Or you don’t!
Here’s the good part:
“Everybody has the right to their own privacy. You don’t wanna let people know whether you took the vaccine or not, that is your business. But there’s a whole bunch of things that LeBron James has elected to speak up about that he felt was a detriment to our community because he’s a leader and he wanted to bring attention and a voice to matters he felt compelled to speak up. But on the matter of the vaccine, you got nothing to say all of these months. Nah. It don’t work that way.”
That’s the problem, the whole problem.
On its face, it’s unreasonable to demand an athlete speak up about a virus shot, which he probably doesn’t know anything about. But given LeBron’s recent history, Smith and others likely expect him to speak out anyway.
Whether LeBron is vaccinated or is the new dictionary definition of an “anti-vaxxer,” he views himself as too good for the NBA’s COVID-19 health and safety protocols, which he just violated by attending a tequila promotional event last week.
The NBA, as Charles Barkley put it, didn’t have the balls to suspend LeBron. And LeBron isn’t worried about backlash either, calling it “not a big deal.”
Smith got angry about that too:
“He should be ashamed of himself, LeBron James should be ashamed of himself. It was weak, his response to it was leaderless, it was inexcusable for him not to provide a better explanation.”
Though I enjoyed seeing Stephen A. Smith pound LeBron, we really shouldn’t encourage LeBron to talk more about anything. There are enough problems in this country.
Taking anything LeBron says to heart, to take anything he says serious is the equivalent to taking advise from women of The View. Every one of them(I’m including LeBron here), is an absolute imbecile with a very, very low IQ and hates America. LeBron is still the only superstar the U.S. have ever seen that feels the need to tell you he’s great.
Speaking of that horrid show, SAS vs LeBron is the sports equivalent of Rosie O’Donnell being angry with Joy Behar. In the end, they’re both dumb, unserious people who are full of shit.
Amen.
Well said, Tim.
What happens when the shot turns out to be the national version of the Tuskegee Experiment? LeBron will be on the right side of history.
Can you call what Lebron does as “speaking out”? Has he ever had any kind of interview in which he has faced any kind of challenge on his supposed stances?
If they want him to be the cultural or thought leader they prop him up to be, let him do so in more than 140 text characters and face up to a intellectual challenge.
Your last paragraph sums it up quite succinctly. It would be nice that lebron’s silence extended to all non-hoops related items. His catalogue of information on policing is desperately lacking and misinformed, yet we get to hear his ridiculous proclamations(almost edicts) regularly.
Lebron has made his own bed. Now he can’t make anybody happy. Idiot!
This makes my head hurt, because I somehow slightly agree with both of them
I don’t give two shits what LeBron says. Or what SAS has to say for that matter.
Get him Smith. Cancel LeBron.
The libs eventually eat their own, LeBrat is on the menu now.
Smith talked shit about James a bit so he could appear to be fair minded after his racist rant about Tim Tebow and his”white privilege”. It’s an act. He wants to appear fair minded, not the racist he really is.
“He should be ashamed of himself, LeBron James should be ashamed of himself. It was weak, his response to it was leaderless, it was inexcusable for him not to provide a better explanation.”
This pretty much covers every single thing LeBron has every done