Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James recently criticized members of the media for not asking him about the photo that depicts Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones looking on as white students tried to stop desegregation at North Little Rock High School in Arkansas in 1957.
Here's the photo that LeBron just ranted about.
Jerry Jones is seemingly a part of a white crowd trying to prevent desegregation from happening at a school. pic.twitter.com/EbWCg3wZIW
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 1, 2022
"I feel like, as a black man as a black athlete, as someone with power…when we do something wrong…every single news coverage, it’s on the bottom ticker…Seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation…seemed like it just been buried under.” pic.twitter.com/qs2r4HubmF
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 1, 2022
After some time, Jones has finally responded to James.
“Well, first of all, you have to hear me say how much I think of LeBron,” said Jones during a recent radio appearance. “I don’t know of anybody I respect any more. I don’t know of anybody that has taken every opportunity he’s had and maximized it. He not only is an absolute great ambassador for sport. He has taken sports, he’s taken his venues and used those platforms. I want to be sure that you know where I’m coming from. It made buttons pop off my vest, so to speak, when he would talk about how much of a Cowboy fan he was. He would have made a great tight end. And that doesn’t change. There’s nothing about any of that that changes. And I did hear what he had to say.”
Jones was then pressed a bit for a more direct response regarding the comments.
“Excuse me,” he said. “I’ve just given them to you there. Certainly, he has influence just because of all of the above: his accomplishments, how he’s utilized his sport, how he’s utilized his platform, how we have done it. He has enhanced basketball. He’s made a lot of people a lot of money. I hope I have, too.”
It seems like Jones and James may now have a strained relationship. Back during the 2011 NBA lockout, James apparently began training in hopes of joining the NFL and even got a contract offer from Jones to play for the Cowboys, a team he was then a fan of.
Of course, James never wound up suiting up for the Cowboys and continued on with his NBA career. In October of this year, he said that he could no longer support the Cowboys because of Jones’ refusal to let his players kneel for the national anthem.
Maybe Jones is a little annoyed about that statement from James as well as this latest one. It will be interesting to see if the four-time MVP says anything else regarding the situation.
He’s gotten tons of support, but he has also received lots of pushback. It’s certainly a topic that will be talked about for a while.
Jones and James are likely more focused on their respective teams’ seasons. The Cowboys are 8-3 and second in the NFC East, but look like likely to make the playoffs. As for the Lakers, they’re now 8-12 and trending in the right direction after starting the current season 2-10.
Maybe Jones and James will be able to meet in the future and hash out any differences that might exist.
