LeBron James had found himself with his foot in his mouth, as some recent comments made by the Lakers star have gotten him into a bit of a bind with the larger American public.
LeBron’s talk show, ‘The Shop’, will be returning this week with a new episode with the primary guest being English footballer and Manchester United striker Marcus Rashford. In a preview of the show that was released, LeBron is heard making a statement on Brittney Griner’s incarceration in Russia and the lack of efforts from the US to bring her home.
“Now, how can she feel like America has her back? I would be feeling like, ‘Do I even want to go back to America?'” (h/t Sports Illustrated)
This comment generated a lot of outrage from various citizens and mainstream media as LeBron was critical of the government and used strong words to describe how she wouldn’t want to come back to America, which has been looked at as tone-deaf considering shes literally fighting the Russian government to try and come back to America. LeBron clarified his comments on Twitter.
My comments on “The Shop” regarding Brittney Griner wasn’t knocking our beautiful country. I was simply saying how she’s probably feeling emotionally along with so many other emotions, thoughts, etc inside that cage she’s been in for over 100+ days! Long story short #BringHerHome
— LeBron James (@KingJames) July 13, 2022
LeBron is naturally going to voice his concerns whenever he feels the need to. He has developed a massive platform by becoming one of the most notable athletes in the world, so everything he has to say can be considered controversial if that’s what people are looking to hear from him.
His initial comments were in poor taste, but those comments shouldn’t have been taken as literally as they were. Everyone wants to bring Brittney Griner home, who has been stuck in Russia for over 100 days because of an arrest on drug charges.
It’s unclear when LeBron’s comments were recorded, as the government has taken a bigger step to ensure that Griner gets home in recent days, with her wife speaking to President Joe Biden for the same.
