Lebron calls Celtics fans racist

[GreenlyGreeny]

What players were located in China at the time of the tweet?

And, if the situation was dangerous, why did the NBA continue to play NBA games there?

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2019-10-14/lakers-china-how-nba-defuse-tensions-amid-tumultuous-week

Lakers and Nets.

The NBA should have cancelled/suspended the trip for safety purposes.

Roy, did you see my post? Why is Lebron a hypocrite but we are not re: China?

The average American can’t decline to do business with China.  There simply aren’t viable options for most Americans.  Those Americans, however, don’t self-edit themselves on social media and call out others for being “misinformed”.

Lebron, of course, has the ability to wield influence.  In this area, he takes a “the Chinese buy shoes, too” approach.  I think it’s fair to criticize that.  Moreso, I think it’s fair to criticize his response to Morey.

I don’t buy this logic for a second. He’s Lebron James, not Reverend James or President James. We don’t get to criticize others for making the choices that we make on a daily basis. I mean, we can. It just makes us look like hypocrites, which is a tough look when calling Lebron a hypocrite.

Other than certain technological items where I do not have an alternative at this time, I own nothing made in Communist China. I refuse to support communist-supplied/controlled labor (fair to call it slave labor) and, frankly, communist-driven genocide at this point. If I were in LeBron’s shoes, I would open factories in the marginalized areas of America, not in Communist China, if a profit margin could be achieved for the product being manufactured. Or in an impoverished area in a country that is clearly trying to be a free, democratic society. No shortage of such places. I would find a way to do business without Communist China and I would speak up against slavery/genocide in Communist China given the amazing platform I’d have. All the money in the world would not allow me to go to sleep at night knowing I am profiting off deals with the devil that is the Communist Party of China…

Believe it or not, there was once a time not too long ago when America did not rely on communists in Communist China to supply slave labor so that some business owners could turn profit margins into absurd profit margins…

At this point it is abundantly clear that buying products made in Communist China is directly funding communist activities, and basically contributing to a phenomenon of USD ending up in the hands of communists who direct the USD to be allocated in a manner that causes maximum societal damage in the USA, not maximize returns/profits. Funding communist activities should be avoided if your budget allows it. “Everybody else is doing it” and “we can’t compete if we do not do it” is exactly how the plantation owners in the South defended American slavery, BTW. We can surely do better than this in 2022.

[Rondo9]

Perk's right Boston fans are too [dang] disrespectful to opposing players?

We believe Perk when he says "I hear from so many other players about Boston being racist and things to that nature." ?

I feel like you don't have the grasp over narrative that you think you do, Goldstar. Especially when you're citing a 2019 story about Boston's attractiveness as a free agent destination: https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/06/paul-pierce-on-playing-in-the-city-of-boston-and-horford-getting-his-money.html

And an article where it's clear KG is talking about being a Celtic:

“The narrative of Boston before you get there is that it is a racist town,” said Kevin Garnett, who led the Celtics to a championship in 2008 and the team recently announced will have his No. 5 Celtics jersey retired next season.

“But once you became a Celtic, it was a whole other protective,” Garnett added. “It was another shield. … It was a whole other flip.”

https://andscape.com/features/celtics-being-a-black-player-in-boston/


Apologies for the edits, but this is the most blatant cherry picking since Ricky Davis trying for that triple double. Consider this from that same article:

Many Celtics players interviewed for this story who played in Boston in the mid-1990s and 2000s, and lived primarily in the suburbs near the practice facility in Waltham until it moved much closer to downtown in 2018, shared mostly positive experiences with Boston fans, though they acknowledged that being a Celtic likely helped.

Rivers added that it also helped when they were part of winning teams.

“When we became good, I became a ‘made man,’ ” Rivers said.

Rondo, too, said overall Boston was welcoming to him, but his brother, William, didn’t always feel the same way. The Celtics’ championship point guard said whether in Boston or elsewhere in America, a black athlete will likely get treated favorably over the typical African American. Kendrick Perkins agrees.

“I never dealt with any racism one time in eight years,” said Perkins, a member of the 2008 team. “I’m not saying there was no racism nowhere in Boston. But, I will say that being a professional athlete in Boston created a separation. If I was a normal black person in Boston, I’m not sure how they would act.”

Avery Bradley, who played for the Celtics from 2010-2017, said one of his brothers had a racist incident at a Boston Bruins game.

“My family and friends experienced a lot of racism in Boston,” Bradley said. “If they weren’t with me, they experienced all types of stuff. At a hockey game, my brother almost got in a fight with some people because they were acting crazy. I never experienced it, but every other person I knew that was there experienced it.”

They are saying that they don’t view Boston as a racist city in that article, but you want to discount it because it had to do with free agency and was from 2019? Guess that makes it ancient history. There are incidents everywhere. Philly Fan received an indefinite ban last year for calling Carmelo Anthony “Boy”. Unfortunately this behavior happens in other cities as well, even though you want to believe that it’s only in Boston. You clearly think that Boston is a racist city, unlike anywhere else. it’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion. I’m going to agree with KG and Paul, though. Maybe you should team up with Lebron and Kyrie and buy the Celtics so you can make money off of all the racists and really stick it to them.

Well, before I said you either didn't understand context or you didn't understand the meaning of hypocrisy. I guess now the answer is clear: it's both.

No one in this thread is saying that racism exclusively happens in Boston. You have to actively work at twisting yourself in knots to come up to that conclusion - it's kind of impressive in the expanse of its Gormlessness.

The way people talk about Boston, you would think it's the only racist city in America.

[GreenlyGreeny]

Perk's right Boston fans are too [dang] disrespectful to opposing players?

We believe Perk when he says "I hear from so many other players about Boston being racist and things to that nature." ?

I feel like you don't have the grasp over narrative that you think you do, Goldstar. Especially when you're citing a 2019 story about Boston's attractiveness as a free agent destination: https://www.masslive.com/celtics/2019/06/paul-pierce-on-playing-in-the-city-of-boston-and-horford-getting-his-money.html

And an article where it's clear KG is talking about being a Celtic:

“The narrative of Boston before you get there is that it is a racist town,” said Kevin Garnett, who led the Celtics to a championship in 2008 and the team recently announced will have his No. 5 Celtics jersey retired next season.

“But once you became a Celtic, it was a whole other protective,” Garnett added. “It was another shield. … It was a whole other flip.”

https://andscape.com/features/celtics-being-a-black-player-in-boston/


Apologies for the edits, but this is the most blatant cherry picking since Ricky Davis trying for that triple double. Consider this from that same article:

Many Celtics players interviewed for this story who played in Boston in the mid-1990s and 2000s, and lived primarily in the suburbs near the practice facility in Waltham until it moved much closer to downtown in 2018, shared mostly positive experiences with Boston fans, though they acknowledged that being a Celtic likely helped.

Rivers added that it also helped when they were part of winning teams.

“When we became good, I became a ‘made man,’ ” Rivers said.

Rondo, too, said overall Boston was welcoming to him, but his brother, William, didn’t always feel the same way. The Celtics’ championship point guard said whether in Boston or elsewhere in America, a black athlete will likely get treated favorably over the typical African American. Kendrick Perkins agrees.

“I never dealt with any racism one time in eight years,” said Perkins, a member of the 2008 team. “I’m not saying there was no racism nowhere in Boston. But, I will say that being a professional athlete in Boston created a separation. If I was a normal black person in Boston, I’m not sure how they would act.”

Avery Bradley, who played for the Celtics from 2010-2017, said one of his brothers had a racist incident at a Boston Bruins game.

“My family and friends experienced a lot of racism in Boston,” Bradley said. “If they weren’t with me, they experienced all types of stuff. At a hockey game, my brother almost got in a fight with some people because they were acting crazy. I never experienced it, but every other person I knew that was there experienced it.”

They are saying that they don’t view Boston as a racist city in that article, but you want to discount it because it had to do with free agency and was from 2019? Guess that makes it ancient history. There are incidents everywhere. Philly Fan received an indefinite ban last year for calling Carmelo Anthony “Boy”. Unfortunately this behavior happens in other cities as well, even though you want to believe that it’s only in Boston. You clearly think that Boston is a racist city, unlike anywhere else. it’s fine, you are entitled to your opinion. I’m going to agree with KG and Paul, though. Maybe you should team up with Lebron and Kyrie and buy the Celtics so you can make money off of all the racists and really stick it to them.

Well, before I said you either didn't understand context or you didn't understand the meaning of hypocrisy. I guess now the answer is clear: it's both.

No one in this thread is saying that racism exclusively happens in Boston. You have to actively work at twisting yourself in knots to come up to that conclusion - it's kind of impressive in the expanse of its Gormlessness.

The way people talk about Boston, you would think it's the only racist city in America.

Yeah, you would think it’s where slavery started rather than being the hometown of the first president who did not own slaves. Or the first city where an NBA team had an all-black starting lineup, and the first city where an NBA team had an African-American coach. But LeBron is nobody compared to those historic firsts that people will still talk about in 100 years when LeBron is relegated to being the Salieri to MJ’s Mozart…

Undoubtedly there is racism in Boston, but it’s unfortunately everywhere else in the world too.

[GreenlyGreeny]

We're just going to fundamentally disagree here. I can't reconcile or warp my mind enough to understand how someone who doesn't old any racial biases can turn around and yell racist things.

As an attorney, I can warp my mind, so I'll give it a try.

I think what he's saying is "Listen, everybody in America has been exposed to racist language.  We know what it looks like.  We know the slurs, the expressions, whatever.  And, we know it can get in the head of certain players.  It's similar to KG attacking Charlie V. about cancer.  It's a potential soft spot, so I'm going to exploit it.  I don't believe Black players are subhuman.  That's a ridiculous sentiment.  But, I'm willing to say anything to help get my team a win, and if that means mimic-ing racists to get under Lebron's skin, then that's a price I'm willing to pay".

So, that's the argument.  It would make me ask the question, though:  how off-kilter must a fan be to degrade himself to hurling racial slurs -- risking permanent expulsion from the Garden in the process -- just to get inside an opponent's head?

Yup that's it. And I'd argue that the person yelling about cancer, your kids, your ugly wife, your mom are just as "off kilter".

But let's be real .. it's part of basketball culture. Anyone see Hustle? Was Anthony Edwards character being racist comparing the Spanish player a bull and matador? Or off kilter when talking about his kids to get in his head?

Another question, if LeBron he was fine with the racist and/or ugly comments why do any of you care? He obviously sees it like I do.

If you said some racist stuff to me during competition or an argument I would take it as ish talking...just like LeBron. I certainly wouldn't go right to this dude wants to oppress or lynch me.

I suspect it bothers Lebron on a human level.  He's a professional with a high level of concentration that can compartmentalize stuff.  It doesn't really make it okay. 

Plus, even if you could somehow say "it's the same as trash talking on the court" (it isn't), aren't these people subjecting hundreds of people besides Lebron to racial slurs?  What about the ten year old black kid sitting two rows in front of you?

So the white from Maine is correcting not only the words  a black man used to describe an incident but also doesn't believe the black man knows how he actually feels about it? Just come out and say that you don't think LeBron isn't smart enough to communicate properly

Just reading this thread to get caught up after being busy the past few days, but I have to call this one out as one of the all-time worst posts in the history of this blog, at least of everything I’ve read over almost a decade now. Anybody who comes in here a lot knows Roy is an extremely thoughtful and empathic person who is really good at arguing any viewpoint on a given topic (it’s called playing devil’s advocate and it’s an important skill to practice internally to be sure you stand firm in your beliefs on something, whatever it may be). How someone could post the above directed at anybody is baffling, but directing it at the dude who, more than anybody on the planet, makes sure we can all meet and talk/read about our favorite team on this very cool format? 🤦‍♂️

[GreenlyGreeny]

Guess we can close the voting on the dumbest post of the year award.

You know…I was really hoping one of my trade ideas would take home the gold this year. Maybe next year 🤣

[pokeKingCurtis]

earlier in the thread kernewek added some brackets which are very much implied

Cause they racist as f-. That's why. They will say anyth--and it's fine. I mean, it's my life.  It's s- I've been dealing with [racist heckling] my whole life. I don't mind it. Like, I hear it [the racist heckling]. Like, if I hear somebody [say something racist], like, close by, I'll check 'em real quick. I move on to the game. They gonna say whatever the f- they want to say.

The beer, the shirts, etc. aren't given as examples of racism.  They are given as examples as to why the fans in Boston make it tough on opposing players (which was the question Lebron was answering).  Separate thoughts but all relate to why it is hard to play in Boston as an opposing player i.e. they say racist things, they say anything they want no matter how crude, they have shirts made that say f- and your name, and they will throw beer on you.  All reasons why Lebron hates playing in Boston.

That's fair and useful to pare out, TP both.

I mean that's kind of the issue right. He just rolls all these things in one comment and just sort of says it. Yea he feels strongly about it but he didn't word it super well. He's free to express his feelings like that but he'll be judged accordingly (maybe not by the mob or the majority at this point, given how fun it is to dog Boston).

I mean I get why people shouldn't say All Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter, but man this "Boston is racist as f---" thing just really harkens back to when Lebron said "you're next" at that police officer. There's no nuance with him. Again, just as Roy said, he says/does things without much tact too oftten. It's just really disappointing.

[Kernewek]

Does anyone here actually regularly watch the shop? I’ve only seen clips. Curious if it is any good after all this discussion.

Not regularly, but I did wind up watching the full episode being discussed here - mostly because I find Daniel Kaluuya always has a pretty interesting perspective on things. I thought the episode was pretty good. There's a bit in there from Rashid Johnson, who I hadn't heard of before this, where Maverick asks him if white people buying black art need to understand blackness.

 

I think, in all honesty, it's not the responsibility of Black folks to use their work as a teaching tool. You know, it's that sense of didactic or using or employing your kind of cultural production as a way to engage, you know, a white audience is not particularly effective, because at that point, what you're doing is you're centralizing whiteness, right?

Like, that everything kind of lives outside of this kind of center subject, where we just keep throwing things into the white ether and saying "Do you see us? Do you see us?" Right?

And I don't think that that is essentially what artists should be doing. I think that we should be making work as if we are in the center of our own conversations, right?

There's more, but watching the video is always better than reading the transcript:
https://youtu.be/WjT-c6BOswY?t=720 (if the timestamp doesn't work it starts at 12:00 on the dot).

Which I thought was a pretty interesting take because it's a framing of cross-cultural work that I hadn't considered before. If the rest of the series is full of discussions like this, I'll watch more for sure because it's some interesting bubbles of thought that I'm not likely to come across in my day to day life.

[Kernewek]

The way people talk about Boston, you would think it's the only racist city in America.

Yeah, you would think it’s where slavery started rather than being the hometown of the first president who did not own slaves. Or the first city where an NBA team had an all-black starting lineup, and the first city where an NBA team had an African-American coach. But LeBron is nobody compared to those historic firsts that people will still talk about in 100 years when LeBron is relegated to being the Salieri to MJ’s Mozart…

Undoubtedly there is racism in Boston, but it’s unfortunately everywhere else in the world too.

So I think my reaction to this - like Rondo9 and I talked about on page one of the thread :p  - is that when you try to 'rank' Boston's racism in general you're tying up a whole bunch of different things in this conversation for reasons that don't make a whole lot of sense outside of deflection from the specific point at hand, which I see as this (quoted for easier reading):

There are sports fans who say racist stuff to players. No one denies this. In the context of sport, Boston fans in particular have a particular reputation for being spicy. It doesn't have to be about race - Lamar Odom & the UG-LY SIS-TER chants prove that - but a non-zero amount of the time it is. We've talked about a handful of examples across the thread and there are statements from former players and the like to be sure that there is a perception among players and that this perception is widespread enough that it's probably rooted in reality.

There is an expectation that guys who don't play for the home team are going to 'get it', and I think we all know that and I believe part of that is what we talk about when we talk about being passionate fans - because, again, I don't think anyone on the board is necessarily racist, but there are loads of us who enjoy good trash talk and we enjoy the fact that we come from a fanbase that can literally suck the will to win out of the opposing team - which is the point of the conversation that started this thread.

This is what makes Boston sports fans' special, if you like. This is the unique quality that the folks in the arenas, the stadiums, and the ballparks have cultivated over generations of fandom. It's the same vibe that explains why Mass-hole is a pejorative but also a badge of honour: because the fans in the stadium will say anything, no matter how crude or how crass, if they think it will mess with the opposing team. It's the reason KG became the spirit animal of the modern-day Celtics - because he's the same way.

There are certain things about Boston, the city, that don't promote racial harmony. That fact isn't particularly unique, sure, but when we point that out I think we should really try and make sure we're framing it in the context of the conversation above, rather than using it to avoid talking about the fact that for a non-zero amount of fans being offensively racist is seen as 'fair game' when it comes to trash talking.

[pokeKingCurtis]

I love the discussion on this page. The reason I've been nagging about this was how pointless it is to just say "they're racist as f---" and just riling up the mob. But I'm happy about the discussions on this page.

[Moranis]

What players were located in China at the time of the tweet?

And, if the situation was dangerous, why did the NBA continue to play NBA games there?

https://www.latimes.com/sports/lakers/story/2019-10-14/lakers-china-how-nba-defuse-tensions-amid-tumultuous-week

Lakers and Nets.

The NBA should have cancelled/suspended the trip for safety purposes.

Roy, did you see my post? Why is Lebron a hypocrite but we are not re: China?

The average American can’t decline to do business with China.  There simply aren’t viable options for most Americans.  Those Americans, however, don’t self-edit themselves on social media and call out others for being “misinformed”.

Lebron, of course, has the ability to wield influence.  In this area, he takes a “the Chinese buy shoes, too” approach.  I think it’s fair to criticize that.  Moreso, I think it’s fair to criticize his response to Morey.

I don’t buy this logic for a second. He’s Lebron James, not Reverend James or President James. We don’t get to criticize others for making the choices that we make on a daily basis. I mean, we can. It just makes us look like hypocrites, which is a tough look when calling Lebron a hypocrite.

Other than certain technological items where I do not have an alternative at this time, I own nothing made in Communist China. I refuse to support communist-supplied/controlled labor (fair to call it slave labor) and, frankly, communist-driven genocide at this point. If I were in LeBron’s shoes, I would open factories in the marginalized areas of America, not in Communist China, if a profit margin could be achieved for the product being manufactured. Or in an impoverished area in a country that is clearly trying to be a free, democratic society. No shortage of such places. I would find a way to do business without Communist China and I would speak up against slavery/genocide in Communist China given the amazing platform I’d have. All the money in the world would not allow me to go to sleep at night knowing I am profiting off deals with the devil that is the Communist Party of China…

Believe it or not, there was once a time not too long ago when America did not rely on communists in Communist China to supply slave labor so that some business owners could turn profit margins into absurd profit margins…

At this point it is abundantly clear that buying products made in Communist China is directly funding communist activities, and basically contributing to a phenomenon of USD ending up in the hands of communists who direct the USD to be allocated in a manner that causes maximum societal damage in the USA, not maximize returns/profits. Funding communist activities should be avoided if your budget allows it. “Everybody else is doing it” and “we can’t compete if we do not do it” is exactly how the plantation owners in the South defended American slavery, BTW. We can surely do better than this in 2022.

what business do you think James does in China? He doesn't exactly own a bunch of product producing businesses. 

[Moranis]

Does anyone here actually regularly watch the shop? I’ve only seen clips. Curious if it is any good after all this discussion.

I've seen some of them.  They aren't bad.  They touch on a lot of subjects.  I mean this thread is basically a 45 second discussion in the 30 minute or so episode dealing with race and racism.  The show is obviously a show produced for tv, but it certainly isn't scripted and does have more of the barbershop type feel to it (which is the point).  So a lot of what is said is off the cuff and it is why some of the stuff comes off a bit rambling or isn't stated as clearly as maybe it should be (like that 45 seconds from this thread).  Also, because there is a lot of content, a lot of the stuff that really makes the news cycle from the show is pulled out of context for clicks.  Like even in this thread, when you miss the lead in question which wasn't why do you hate Boston, but more along the lines of which fanbases make it tough for you, then you miss some of the context of the overall answer that Boston fans make it tough on you because (1) they say racist things, (2) they say anything, (3) they have shirts with profanity towards you, and (4) they even throw beer on you. 

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I believe Lebron’s bosses have told the NBA players and employees to relax on criticizing China because they have business interests. Why else did Daryl Morey delete his tweets about a free Hong Kong? If you work for a corporation, I would bet your boss wouldn’t appreciate you publicly criticizing a potential client/partner.

The NBA (from Silver at the top) has embraced the message that black people are not disposable. People on here want to (fairly) criticize the BLM organization, but the actual message has been embraced by the NBA.

I don’t see the hypocrisy.

Ali was asked why he refused to go to Vietnam, and he basically said “no Vietcong ever called me the N word”. I think there’s a chance that Lebron has been personally affected by racism in the States, and that’s why he’s addressing it.

No one is saying that his words were eloquent. I’m not saying that Boston is the most racist city. I’m not saying that Boston fans are all racist. I’m saying that the Garden is a place where crudeness and abuse is tolerated, sprinkled in with some racism. How do I know this? I’ve heard the N word there on multiple occasions. Now some would argue that the N word is just abuse and not racist abuse. I disagree.

Also, Lebron was asked where he doesn’t like to play, then subsequently why he doesn’t like playing in Boston. He wasn’t asked  what is the most racist city. This tactic of shifting the focus continues to be repeated on this thread.

[Donoghus]

Guess we can close the voting on the dumbest post of the year award.

You know…I was really hoping one of my trade ideas would take home the gold this year. Maybe next year 🤣

You still have about 5 months to go but the bar has been raised to a point that I’m not sure it’ll be topped. 

Also, I wouldn’t be worrying about that fool.

[pokeKingCurtis]

I believe Lebron’s bosses have told the NBA players and employees to relax on criticizing China because they have business interests. Why else did Daryl Morey delete his tweets about a free Hong Kong? If you work for a corporation, I would bet your boss wouldn’t appreciate you publicly criticizing a potential client/partner.

The NBA (from Silver at the top) has embraced the message that black people are not disposable. People on here want to (fairly) criticize the BLM organization, but the actual message has been embraced by the NBA.

I don’t see the hypocrisy.

Ali was asked why he refused to go to Vietnam, and he basically said “no Vietcong ever called me the N word”. I think there’s a chance that Lebron has been personally affected by racism in the States, and that’s why he’s addressing it.

No one is saying that his words were eloquent. I’m not saying that Boston is the most racist city. I’m not saying that Boston fans are all racist. I’m saying that the Garden is a place where crudeness and abuse is tolerated, sprinkled in with some racism. How do I know this? I’ve heard the N word there on multiple occasions. Now some would argue that the N word is just abuse and not racist abuse. I disagree.

Also, Lebron was asked where he doesn’t like to play, then subsequently why he doesn’t like playing in Boston. He wasn’t asked  what is the most racist city. This tactic of shifting the focus continues to be repeated on this thread.

I kind of like how the bolded part is phrased. I feel like that's the crux of the issue. There could be a lot of racism, there could be a little, and there should be none.

I dunno am I allowed to dislike this guy, but also have my views in line with the more progressive views with regards to black lives and black progress, and like the things Jaylen and Bill Russell have done and said, and dislike how Lebron is representing the progessiveness due to the way he carries himself?

Edit: I'm sincerely asking - "am I allowed" as in does that track, or is there something I'm missing/being hypocritical. I'm not being sarcastic

[MarcusSmartFanClub]

I believe Lebron’s bosses have told the NBA players and employees to relax on criticizing China because they have business interests. Why else did Daryl Morey delete his tweets about a free Hong Kong? If you work for a corporation, I would bet your boss wouldn’t appreciate you publicly criticizing a potential client/partner.

The NBA (from Silver at the top) has embraced the message that black people are not disposable. People on here want to (fairly) criticize the BLM organization, but the actual message has been embraced by the NBA.

I don’t see the hypocrisy.

Ali was asked why he refused to go to Vietnam, and he basically said “no Vietcong ever called me the N word”. I think there’s a chance that Lebron has been personally affected by racism in the States, and that’s why he’s addressing it.

No one is saying that his words were eloquent. I’m not saying that Boston is the most racist city. I’m not saying that Boston fans are all racist. I’m saying that the Garden is a place where crudeness and abuse is tolerated, sprinkled in with some racism. How do I know this? I’ve heard the N word there on multiple occasions. Now some would argue that the N word is just abuse and not racist abuse. I disagree.

Also, Lebron was asked where he doesn’t like to play, then subsequently why he doesn’t like playing in Boston. He wasn’t asked  what is the most racist city. This tactic of shifting the focus continues to be repeated on this thread.

I kind of like how the bolded part is phrased. I feel like that's the crux of the issue. There could be a lot of racism, there could be a little, and there should be none.

I dunno am I allowed to dislike this guy, but also have my views in line with the more progressive views with regards to black lives and black progress, and like the things Jaylen and Bill Russell have done and said, and dislike how Lebron is representing the progessiveness due to the way he carries himself?

Edit: I'm sincerely asking - "am I allowed" as in does that track, or is there something I'm missing/being hypocritical. I'm not being sarcastic

You totally are allowed. One of the things that I don't like about Lebron was his Nike marketing campaign: https://www.nba.com/cavaliers/news/witnesses_070606.html

I thought they were trying to compare him to Jesus. Maybe this is how I saw it and wasn't their intention. Either way, I thought it was strange.