Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James doubled down on his criticism of Washington Wizards analyst Glenn Consor for his comments about Kevin Porter Jr. and his father on Wednesday.
Oh he thought this was cool huh!!?? Nah we ain’t going for this! Sorry but this ain’t going to fly! How insensitive can you be to say something like this. Beat it man! I pray for you but there’s no place in our beautiful game for you! https://t.co/UgVOBUOsPK
— LeBron James (@KingJames) January 6, 2022
Consor said that Porter “like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time,” after the Rockets guard hit the game-winning shot against the Wizards.
“Kevin Porter Jr., like his dad, pulled that trigger right at the right time”
I can’t believe this was actually said on the Wizards broadcast.. Completely inexcusable. pic.twitter.com/bZcWEVqPOP
— Bradeaux (@BradeauxNBA) January 6, 2022
The issue is that Porter’s father pled guilty to first-degree manslaughter in the shooting death of a 14-year old girl in 1993. He was later shot and killed in 2004 while attempting to help someone being attacked in a Seattle bar.
Consor apologized for his comments, but it appears he hasn’t convinced the Lakers star.
I want to sincerely apologize to Kevin Porter Jr and clarify last night’s call. pic.twitter.com/UweFhFnkbt
— Glenn Consor (@glennconsor) January 6, 2022
James doubled down on his comments in a press conference on Thursday.
LeBron explaining his tweet criticizing the Wizards announcer for comments about Kevin Porter Jr and his dad (only 1:30+ mins worth from his presser, he spoke for much longer on the subject): pic.twitter.com/o0J7lBmEOF
— Ryan Ward (@RyanWardLA) January 6, 2022
“I stand by my tweet,” James said. “I stand by everything I said. So, let’s just say, he thought that was the case. We get scouting reports on players, and I know you guys from the media all get memos and stuff for players and stuff before the game, right?
“Y’all get like packets of stuff when y’all come to the game and what’s going on and game play. And I believe that – I’m not a play-by-play person, analyst – but I believe that they do they due diligence as well when they get their reports on teams that they’re about to play as well as their own team, right?
“So, I was actually watching the game live last night when I heard, and I waited. I didn’t do it right away as you see with my tweet, I was watching the game. So, if that’s the case, if I am a play-by-play announcer, right, and I’m covering a team – my local team – in his case he’s covering the Wizards. So he remembers the Kevin Porter who used to play for the [Washington] Bullets, correct?
“The first thing I would have done, I would have said, ‘Kevin Porter Jr. is coming into town, let me see if that’s his son.’ I would’ve did that due diligence way before, and I think everyone on this call would have did the same thing.”
It is clear that James doesn’t believe Consor’s apology, but it will be interesting to see if the broadcaster faces any repercussions from his actions on Wednesday night.