The war of words between Enes Kanter and LeBron James has continued. Last month, Kanter called out James, Michael Jordan, and Nike for their continued relationship with China, and their use of ‘slave labor camps’ to make shoes. There had been no initial response from any of the mentioned parties.
So Kanter doubled down and called out James again, with a post on Twitter slamming him for working with China. On top of that, he wore shoes with the symbolism of James and China, slamming James’ continued silence on the human rights violations in the country.
After the Lakers-Celtics game, James responded to Kanter, saying that he would not give any attention to him. On top of that, James said that Kanter walked past him in the hallways and didn’t say anything to him, despite having such a major issue with him in recent months.
Kanter heard these claims and has responded in kind. In a recent interview with CNN, Kanter was asked why he hasn’t personally spoken to James or confronted him when he had the chance. Kanter replied that James also avoided him in that hallway, and didn’t say a word to him.
Brown: Why haven’t you gone up to LeBron and spoken to him face to face?
Kanter: I wasn’t the one that right passed him. He was the one that literally walked right by me and did not say anything pic.twitter.com/bzJcw5HaRn
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 21, 2021
“First of all, even my assistant coach knows the story. He was behind me, in the tunnel. And I stopped to take a picture with one of the kids. I wasn’t the one that right passed him. He was the one that literally walked right by me and did not say anything.”
Kanter discussed a host of topics during the CNN interview, including Michael Jordan, calling him out and saying that Jordan has never done anything for the black community because he’s concerned about his shoe sales.
Also in the interview, Kanter said that LeBron’s teammates have told him that his stance on social justice is strictly for PR purposes, and not sincere. Clearly, Kanter is not backing down on this war of words with James and will continue to call him out until James takes a public stand against the human rights violations in China.
