LeBron James has reached the mountaintop in more than one arena. Although he has achieved just about all you can achieve, the eventual Hall of Famer has never forgotten his original starting point.
TMZ obtained audio on Sunday of James, giving the cast and crew of his upcoming Space Jam film an emotional speech on the last day of filming in the summer of 2019. James starts by explaining why it was so important for him to take on this role.
"I'm gonna be honest completely with you guys, when I found out about the project, I was like it's Space Jam!" LeBron said. "It’s a movie that I grew up watching. People in the movie that I idolize. I was like absolutely, I gotta do it. There’s no way I can turn down Space Jam."
James went on to joke about the film's demanding schedule before reminding them how fortunate he is to be in this position.
"I’m just a small kid from Akron, Ohio —a very small town outside of Cleveland. From a single-parent household, I’m the only child, my mother had absolutely nothing," James told the cast and crew. "She was walking around high school when she was 16 years old and she was pregnant with me as a high school sophomore. So, I’m really not supposed to be here."
"Growing up in the inner city, as an African-American kid, there’s no way you’re supposed to fucking make it out," he continued. "And, the fact that I’m who I am as an African-American adult now with three kids of my own, and I made it out of the situations that I was in. This shit is like extra credit for me man."
The plot and cast of Space Jam have been under wraps, but it is known that James will be joined in the film by fellow NBA superstars, Damian Lillard, Klay Thompson, Anthony Davis, and others. Don Cheadle will also have a role in the film, written and produced by Black Panther's Ryan Coogler.
