After directing Twitter and Instagram posts to a Fox News commentator who told him to “shut up and dribble,” LeBron James skipped the social media responses and offered up a lengthy sound bite Saturday.
“I actually laughed when I first saw the reports,” James said of Laura Ingraham’s dog whistle response to criticism James and Kevin Durant leveled at Donald Trump. James’ remarks came during a media session after practice for Sunday’s NBA All-Star Game. You can view them above courtesy of Cleveland.com.
“We’re back to everything I’ve been talking about over the last few years,” James added. “It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying is correct. We will definitely not shut up and dribble. I will definitely not do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to too many kids who feel like they don’t have a way out, and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in.”
LeBron also pointed out Ingraham incorrectly stated he left high school early, and that he didn’t know who she was before her factually inaccurate comments went viral.
For her part, Ingraham characterized the responses as an eruption by the left-leaning media. She also said the “shut up and dribble” phrase was a variant on her 2003 book Shut Up and Sing.
With the back and forth between Ingraham and James, Ingraham failed to address the initial Trump comments that James and Durant took objection to. Trump’s January remarks about Africa, Haiti and El Salvador can objectively be called racist. And James pointed out that Ingraham’s criticism gave him a platform to discuss such issues.
“I get to sit up here and talk about social justice, equality, and why a woman on a certain network decided to tell me to shut up and dribble,” James said. Those remarks appear at the 3:01 mark.
“So thank you…whatever her name is,” James added. “I don’t even know what her name is. I appreciate it. I get to sit up here and talk about what’s really important.”
