Sport
Ariana Baio
Dec 01, 2022
content.jwplatform.com
It's typical for athletes to face tough questions from the media after a game but rarely do journalists get asked hard-hitting questions from the athletes.
LeBron James, however, has a point to make.
During a postgame news conference on Wednesday, the Los Angeles Lakers player turned the tables and asked a room of journalists about their lack of attention on a controversy surrounding the president and owner of the Dallas Cowboys, Jerry Jones.
"I got one question for you guys before you guys leave," LeBron, 37, began.
"I was thinking when I was on my way over here, I was wondering why I haven't gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo. But when the Kyrie [Irving] thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that," he said.
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In November, Irving was temporarily suspended from the Brooklyn Nets for sharing a link to a documentary with anti-Semitic conspiracy theories.
James was asked to comment on Irving's actions earlier last month during a postgame interview where he said Irving "caused some harm to a lot of people."
At the same time, a resurfaced photo from 1957 depicted a 14-year-old Jones in a crowd of white students attempting to prevent six Black students from entering North Little Rock High School in Arkansas.
However, unlike the Irving controversy, James, a former Cowboys fan, says he was never asked about it.
"It seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation, photo -- and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it -- but it seems like it's just been buried under, like, 'Oh, it happened. Ok, we just move on.' And I was just kind of disappointed that I haven't received that question from you guys."
\u201cLeBron James concluded his postgame press conference by rhetorically wondering why the media hasn\u2019t asked him about the Jerry Jones 1957 Little Rock photo, after he was asked about the Kyrie Irving situation. LeBron said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that he hasn\u2019t been asked about Jones\u201d— Michael Corvo (@Michael Corvo) 1669877264
"When I watch Kyrie talk and he says, 'I know who I am, but I want to keep the same energy when we're talking about my people and the things that we've been through,' and that Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments that our people, Black people, have been through in America," James said.
"And I feel like, as a Black man, as a Black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong or something that people don't agree with, it's on every single tabloid, every single news coverage, it's on the bottom ticker. It's asked about every single day."
The media room remained solemn as James finished his statement.
He then got up and left without taking further questions.
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