LeBron James, once a committed fan of the Dallas Cowboys, announced Thursday he ditched the team over its national anthem kneeling policy.
When the kneeling firestorm ignited in 2017, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones, gave an ultimatum to his players: Stand up, or sit out. The tension thickened in 2020 when many players in the NBA, including LeBron James, knelt during the playing of the national anthem to protest alleged racism.
Obviously, Jones and James don’t click on the topic. During an Instagram Live video Thursday, James made his negative feelings towards Jones and the Cowboys be known, even declaring that he was no longer a fan of Dallas because of the franchise’s stance on the anthem. (RELATED: LeBron James Air-Balling A Logo Three Is Probably The Most Embarrassing Shot Of His Career)
“There was just a lot of things that was going on during when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech,” James said. “They wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ And I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”
Lebron James says he’s no longer a Dallas Cowboys fan after the front office told the players if they kneel they won’t play‼️😳
pic.twitter.com/kCwEtLX3Oc— Daily Loud (@DailyLoud) October 28, 2022
Prior to the playing of the national anthem in 2017, the Cowboys, collectively as a team, and Jones all knelt in a showing of unity. Jones, however, refused to let any of his players kneel during the actual song.
“I know this, we cannot … in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones said at the time. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear.
“There is no room here if it comes between looking non-supportive of our players and of each other or creating the impression that you’re disrespecting the flag, we will be non-supportive of each other,” he continued. “We will not disrespect the flag.”
When it comes to being a Dallas Cowboys fan, LeBron James said that he still supports Ezekiel Elliott, CeeDee Lamb and Micah Parson, but as far as the franchise and being a native of Akron, Ohio, he’s “all in on the [Cleveland] Browns.”
And this is why the Los Angeles Lakers are a dismal 0-4 to start the season, this is why they’ve gotten dominated in literally all four games. (RELATED: The LA Lakers Are Now 0-4. Its Time To Overthrow King James And Find Some Younger Players)
Instead of worrying about his team and figuring out how to get them back on a path to success — you’d think he’d want to after missing the playoffs last year — LeBron is out here talking about something that happened in 2017.
Dude, your team has literally yet to win a game to begin the campaign. What on earth are you talking about?
LeBron James is a smart businessman, and one hell of a basketball player (definitely a legend in the sport), but politics is one realm where the man never seems to shine. It just makes him seem like a huge cornball. Yeah, we get it: You love repeating left-wing talking points.
LeBron talks about the transition from his neighborhood to his catholic high school, being around all white people for the first time and finding out what a pantry is pic.twitter.com/BhIpxsC5xJ
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) August 29, 2018
But the thing is, LeBron, nobody cares about your political opinion. You know what people do care about? Either being your fan, or seeing you lose. And right now, you’re giving the latter what they want with your stellar 0-4 start. So, if you’re trying to piss off certain people with your political opinion that isn’t even accurate to begin with, they can just laugh at your performance on the court.
With that being said, let’s take a page out of Laura Ingraham’s book: Just shut up and dribble.
Or let your team not make the playoffs… Again.
Your choice.