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Ever since LeBron James came into the NBA, he’s been really clear about the fact that he’s going to get involved with political issues. It hasn’t always been the best for business, but he’s been a strong advocate for what he believes in. However, he’s ruffled a lot of feathers over the years and some even blamed him for the decrease in ratings last season.
The Los Angeles Lakers star will probably never change his philosophy but one prominent athlete has called him out. A.C. Milan star Zlatan Ibrahimovic believes that LeBron should stay out of politics.
“[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time,” Ibrahimovic said in an interview with Discovery+ Sweden. “Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football. I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics.
“That is the big first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.”
LeBron has been called out before by other athletes, but Ibrahimovic saying something is notable. He was a member of the Los Angeles Galaxy from 2018 to 2019 and even welcomed LeBron when he signed with the Lakers. There’s no reason to believe the two men have any beef.
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LeBron Will Not ‘Shut up & Dribble’
It doesn’t sound like Ibrahimovic has a specific issue with LeBron’s politics, he just doesn’t like the fact that the basketball superstar uses his platform to talk politics. Back in 2018, Fox News host Laura Ingram told LeBron to “shut up and dribble” in regards to his tendency to address political issues. He made it clear back then that he had no intention of staying silent.
“We live in a, we’re back to everything I’ve been talking about for the last few years,” LeBron said in 2018. “It lets me know that everything I’ve been saying is correct for her to have that type of reaction. But 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 so many kids that feel like they don’t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they’re in.”
The NBA Has Scaled Back on Politics
During the NBA bubble last season, the league fully embraced politics. There was messaging on the courts, on players’ jerseys and gear they would wear. It’s hard to know for sure if politics hurt the league’s ratings but it almost certainly didn’t help.
While NBA players are still allowed to bring up whatever politics they would like, the league has definitely moved away from the messaging. The courts no longer have messages on them and players don’t have messages on the backs of their jerseys. Time will tell if the NBA tries to tune out politics for good or if they embrace another movement.
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