LeBron James’ impact has been felt beyond the world of basketball. He once called the President of the United States a bum on Twitter and has never shied away from being politically active. In fact, his commentary on Donald Trump irritated one conservative political commenter in 2018, who responded by telling James that he needs to “shut up and dribble.”
James, of course, took offense to these comments and made it clear that he will never just shut up and dribble. During the 2019 NBA All-Star media day on Saturday, James was asked to look back on the comments one year later, and made it clear that the lessons on display in that moment went far beyond basketball.
Well said, LeBron. pic.twitter.com/WKBpg5vEYa
— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) February 17, 2019
“It’s been one year since the call out to shut up and dribble,” James said. “At that very moment I knew at that moment I was bigger than basketball. I had to say something. It wasn’t just about me. It was about all of us. They be telling you guys to shut up and just write. Just shut up and be a doctor. Just shut up and be a lawyer. Just shut up and be a teacher. Just shut up and do what your occupation is. I think that’s unfair because we are so much more than what our occupations say or what our name tags say.”
James is 100 percent right. People are more than their profession and it’s critical that everyone is empowered to speak out when something they see is not right. James is encouraged to use his platform to spread this message, and even though this was one isolated incident, it’s something that is applicable whenever the Lakers star speaks out about things beyond the hardwood.
