LeBron James Half-Apologizes After Publicly Stereotyping Jewish People
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James seems particularly obsessed with race and stereotypes recently.
It was on a recent episode of his HBO show “The Shop” where James basically compared the entire NFL to a plantation.
“In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams, and they got that slave mentality,” James said during episode 3 of “The Shop.”
“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,’” he added.
And James’ latest comments involving race? They seem to have generated just as much controversy.
As ESPN reports, James has come under fire after posting hip-hop lyrics to the song “ASMR” by 21 Savage on a since-deleted Instagram post.
“We been getting that Jewish money, Everything is Kosher,” James posted on Instagram while wearing a purple Lakers hoodie.
The implication, stemming from a longstanding Jewish stereotype, is that Jewish people are overly obsessed with money and material wealth. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t take long for critics to respond to James. Some were disappointed while other just raked James over the coals for his recent spate of comments involving race.
This is disappointing.
Lebron (and many others) likely don’t understand why this is problematic. But by quoting the song lyric about “that Jewish money” he’s perpetuating the oldest and most historically dangerous Jewish stereotype out there. pic.twitter.com/jML0zFL3wC— Adam Kuperstein (@Adam4NY) December 24, 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
But perhaps the most shocking thing about James’ Instagram blunder is the halfhearted, quasi-apology he issued to ESPN when asked about it.
“Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone,” James told ESPN after the Lakers’ home loss to the reeling Memphis Grizzlies. The 107-99 Lakers loss helped snapped a 5-game losing streak for Memphis.
To be clear, the “sorry if I offended anyone” apology really isn’t much of an apology. And it’s mildly surprising that James is issuing such a weak statement considering how obsessed he is with his personal brand.
“That’s not why I chose to share that lyric. I always (post lyrics). That’s what I do. I ride in my car, I listen to great music, and that was the byproduct of it,” James continued. It was from there that his “apology” veered sharply off-course.
“So I actually thought it was a compliment, and obviously it wasn’t through the lens of a lot of people. My apologies. It definitely was not the intent, obviously, to hurt anybody,” he said.
Hold the phone.
LeBron James, who is always espousing about race issues in America, thought it was a compliment to reduce an entire group of people to their materialism?
Something’s not adding up here if James is as “woke” as he and his supporters seem to think.
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