Like all good woke leftists, LeBron James gets easily triggered by the slightest perceived affronts to his worldview. While Colin Kaepernick had started the “kneeling” conversation as far back as 2016, the anti-American protest really took off in the wake of George Floyd’s death in 2020. From there, it was open season on kneeling – or even hiding in locker rooms – during the playing of the national anthem.
James was all-in on that, defending his right to free speech. Of course, the Bill of Rights guarantees freedoms of the citizen from the government, not from private entities (and no, before anyone says Twitter, it’s not the same). If an NFL owner didn’t want his employees expressing viewpoints antithetical to his while being paid, that was his prerogative. You want to protest as a private citizen? Do it on your time.
But James and the left-wing nuts didn’t take it that way. These adult children want to do what they want to do, when they want to do it, and have everyone go along with them
Picking up on the story of King Complainer’s falling out as a mega-fan of America’s team, the Dallas Cowboys, Outkick writes:
LeBron James was one of the most well-known, passionate Dallas Cowboys fans out there. The keyword there is ‘was.’ James recently explained he’s no longer a Cowboys fan due to the team’s stance on kneeling during the national anthem.
James was essentially the director of the political theatre that went on during the 2020 NBA season and knelt during the playing of the anthem before games. Sending a message about racial injustice was a top priority for many professional athletes in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Asked about the issue, James had remarked that players had every right to do what they wanted but that the guys writing the checks did not. All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others – especially if those others hold leftist perspectives.
“There was just a lot of things that was going on during when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech,” James said incoherently, using four passive verb statements in a single sentence.
“They wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner,” he continued. “A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ And I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”
For his part, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones stood strong on the issue.
“I know this, we cannot, in the NFL in any way, give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones had said. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear.”
On the one hand, James is entirely free to express his opinion and decide not to root for a team anymore. I don’t care who he roots for. On the other hand, James has to realize that people not supportive of kneeling, particularly if the kneelers are being paid millions of dollars by an organization to represent them and play football, hold equally valid viewpoints.
The moral police were out in full force. Now, if only we could all boycott James and the NBA.
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