LeBron James continued to fire back at Fox News host Laura Ingraham at Saturday's NBA All-Star media day, once again saying he will not "shut up and dribble."
"I mean too much to society [to 'shut up and dribble']," James told reporters. "I mean too much to the youth, I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don't have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they're in."
Ingraham drew criticism after she told James to "shut up and dribble" in the wake of comments he made about President Donald Trump in an interview with Uninterrupted. In her commentary, she also called James a "jumb dock" and his words "barely intelligible" and "ignorant."
"You're great players, but no one voted for you," Ingraham told James and Kevin Durant, who also featured in the Uninterrupted video. "... So keep the political commentary to yourself, or as someone once said, shut up and dribble."
Durant called the comments "racist" Friday in an interview with USA Today's Sam Amick, while James said he had been unaware of who Ingraham is.
"First of all, I had no idea who she is or what she do, so she won in that case because now I know who she is," James said.
Ingraham, in a statement provided to Bleacher Report, denied accusations of racism.
"In 2003, I wrote a New York Times bestseller called 'Shut Up & Sing,' in which I criticized celebrities like the Dixie Chicks & Barbra Streisand who were trashing then-President George W. Bush," the statement read. "I have used a variation of that title for more than 15 years to respond to performers who sound off on politics. I've told Robert DeNiro to 'Shut Up & Act,' Jimmy Kimmel to 'Shut Up & Make Us Laugh,' and just this week told the San Antonio Spurs' Gregg Popovich to 'Shut up & Coach.' If pro athletes and entertainers want to freelance as political pundits, then they should not be surprised when they're called out for insulting politicians. There was no racial intent in my remarks—false, defamatory charges of racism are a transparent attempt to immunize entertainment and sports elites from scrutiny and criticism."
James and other players have posted on social media with the hashtag #wewillnotshutupanddribble.
from Bleacher Report - Front Page http://ift.tt/2CtxcHf
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