There was a time when sports were a safe haven for those looking for a break from the real world. A small moment of escape from a world otherwise filled with political vitriol, when we could turn on the television and simply enjoy the beauty of sports in their purist form.
Sports can be a great unifier. It doesn’t matter what color your skin is, your religious beliefs, or even your political beliefs. None of those things are meant to come up when you’re sitting in the arena or ballpark. Everyone in attendance is there for one thing: the game.
Unfortunately, things have changed over the past several years, with athletes foisting their political opinions on America no longer being a rarity. Instead, it’s the norm.
I’m not someone who supports the concept of “shut up and dribble.” I think all people should be able to voice their opinions, even when I don’t agree. However, when you speak out, you better have all the facts, or you’ll end up looking foolish.
Let’s take a look at the athletes who decided to dive into the political world and quickly exposed themselves as uninformed.
LeBron James
Where to start with James?
The NBA great doesn’t hold back when it comes to speaking — or strategically choosing not to speak — on political issues. Just a few months ago, James inserted himself into the conversation surrounding the treatment of black Americans by police after a year of racially-charged protests and riots around the globe.
After police shot a young black woman as she attempted to stab another young black woman, James weighed in. While most felt the officer had no choice but to intervene, James felt differently.
In a now-deleted tweet, the future hall-of-famer posted “YOU’RE NEXT” with a picture of the police officer below. James — facing furious backlash over doxxing an officer – quickly deleted the tweet before doubling down.
I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
On another occasion, Daryl Morey — then the President of Basketball Operations for the Houston Rockets — sent out a tweet in support of Hong Kong in October 2019.
“Fight for freedom, stand with Hong Kong,” Morey wrote.
James — who has various business ties linked to China — didn’t have the courage to stand up for Morey as he faced furious backlash from China and from the NBA. Arguably worrying more about his wallet than issues like democracy and freedom, James criticized Morey’s tweet.
“I don’t want to get into a … feud with Daryl Morey, but I believe he wasn’t educated on the situation at hand and he spoke,” James said. “So many people could have been harmed, not only financially but physically, emotionally, spiritually. Just be careful what we tweet, what we say and what we do. Yes, we have freedom of speech, but there can be a lot of negatives that come with that as well. … Sometimes social media is not always the proper way to go about things as well.”
Megan Rapinoe
Rapinoe is a global star — playing for the U.S. women’s national soccer team — yet she always finds a way to play the victim.
She signed a letter demanding “divestment from police,” claimed to be “devalued, disrespected, and dismissed” because she’s a woman, and knelt for the national anthem in a “nod to [Colin] Kaepernick.”
When it comes to the national anthem, Rapinoe said “I’ll probably never put my hand over my heart. I’ll probably never sing the national anthem again.”
Reportedly worth over $3 million, Rapinoe has been at the forefront of the “equal pay” debate, demanding that she and her teammates be paid at the same level as the men’s team, despite the revenue disparity between the two teams. She appeared at the White House in March to speak out on the issue.
“I’m a member of the LGBTQ community with pink hair, and where I come from, I could have only dreamed of standing in the position I am today at the White House. I’m also a professional athlete, and I’ve helped – along with all of my teammates virtually here today, one teammate literally here today – win four World Cup championships and four Olympic gold medals for the United States,” Rapinoe said.
“Despite those wins, I’ve been devalued, I’ve been disrespected and dismissed because I am a woman. I’ve been told that I don’t deserve any more than less because I am a woman. You see, despite all the wins, I’m still paid less than men who do the same job that I do,” she continued. “For each trophy – of which there are many – and for each win, for each tie, and for each time that we play, it’s less.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Gregg Popovich
The legendary head coach of the San Antonio Spurs is not one to shy away from speaking his mind when it comes to politics. Not a fan of former President Donald Trump, Pop took every opportunity he could to take shots at the former Commander in Chief.
“We take our eye off the ball. He’s great at it. It brings out the dark side of human beings for his own purpose, which is himself,” Popovich said of Trump in 2018. “If it’s not pointed out, if people don’t stand up and point it out and it will become commonplace. It’s not the world I want to live in.”
Pop is also a strong supporter of gun control. “Even if they changed the age limit, it’s all a Band-Aid,” Popovich said. “The obvious elephant in the room is the guns, weapons of war, the magazines. The real discussion should be about the Second Amendment. Is it useful? Does it serve its purpose the way it was supposed to do in the beginning? That discussion should be had.”
The Spurs head coach was also very vocal about social justice after the death of George Floyd, saying he was “embarrassed as a white person.”
“We have to do it. Black people have been shouldering this burden for 400 years,” Popovich said. “The only reason this nation has made the progress it has is because of the persistence, patience and effort of black people. The history of our nation from the very beginning in many ways was a lie, and we continue to this day, mostly black and brown people, to try to make that lie a truth so that it is no longer a lie. And those rights and privileges are enjoyed by people of color, just like we enjoy them. So it’s got to be us, in my opinion, that speak truth to power and call it out, no matter what the consequences. We have to speak.”
Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
DeSean Jackson
Jackson — currently of the LA Rams — got himself in hot water in July 2020, sharing anti-Semitic quotes from Louis Farrakhan and highlighting a quote that is attributed to Hitler.
DeSean Jackson, posts a quote from Hitler, says he’s not anti-Semitic and then highlights the particularly anti-Semitic part.
As an Eagles fan, this is disgusting. Where is the response from the team and the NFL? pic.twitter.com/MFPmz0PyOY
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) July 7, 2020
Following appropriate outrage, Jackson apologized, saying he “really didn’t realize what the passage was saying.”
“Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African-Americans have suffered,” Jackson said on Instagram. “We should be together fighting anti-Semitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused.”
Stephen Jackson
Jackson became very involved in the Black Lives Matter movement after the death of George Floyd and was seen out in the streets during numerous protests.
“Every time I watch that video, I see myself down there because we look so much alike,” Jackson said to The New York Times. “It easily could have been me down there: Just let me get pulled over by an officer who’s having a bad day and don’t like the fact that I’m in a nice car.”
Unfortunately, his messages on social justice lost their significance after he supported DeSean Jackson’s anti-Semitic statements, saying Jackson was “just speaking the truth.”
“So I just read a statement that the Philadelphia Eagles posted regarding DeSean Jackson’s comments,” Jackson said in a now-deleted Instagram video. “He was trying to educate himself, educate people, and he’s speaking the truth. Right? He’s speaking the truth. You know he don’t hate nobody, but he’s speaking the truth of the facts that he knows and trying to educate others. But y’all don’t want us to educate ourselves. If it’s talking about the black race, y’all ain’t saying nothing about it.”
“They killing us, police killing us and treating us like s***, racism at an all-time high, but ain’t none of you NFL owners spoke up on that, ain’t none of you teams spoke up on that.”
Jackson’s statement drew significant criticism from former athletes, including Charles Barkley. In a video tweeted out by “NBA on TNT,” Barkley condemned both DeSean and Stephen Jackson, among others.
“I don’t understand how you beat hatred with more hatred.”
Charles on the recent anti-Semitic comments by athletes & entertainers. https://t.co/g2EfvXAxOv pic.twitter.com/DtF2aO6N5m
— NBA on TNT (@NBAonTNT) July 17, 2020
Kyrie Irving
Irving has long fancied himself as an intellectual, diving into topics that most NBA players tend to stay away from.
Just last month, Irving chose not to answer questions on his Brooklyn Nets latest win, instead turning his attention to conflict in the Middle East.
I’m not going to lie to you guys, a lot of stuff is going on in this world, and basketball is just not the most important thing to me right now. There’s a lot of stuff going on overseas. All my people are still in bondage across the world, and there’s a lot of dehumanization going on.
So I apologize if I’m not going to be focused on y’all’s questions. It’s just too much going on in the world for me to just be talking about basketball. I focus on this s*** 24/7, most of the time, but it’s just too much going on in this world not to address. It’s just sad to see this s*** going on. It’s not just in Palestine, it’s not just in Israel. It’s all over the world, man, and I feel it. I’m very compassionate … to all races, all cultures, and to see a lot of different people being discriminated against based on their religion, color of their skin, what they believe in. It’s just sad.
Irving has also recently stirred the already boiling pot of racial tension in America, commenting that he hoped there wouldn’t be any “subtle racism” from Boston fans before the Nets’ game three matchup against the Celtics.
“I am just looking forward to competing with my teammates and hopefully, we can just keep it strictly basketball; there’s no belligerence or racism going on — subtle racism,” Irving said. “People yelling sh** from the crowd, but even if it is, it’s part of the nature of the game and we’re just going to focus on what we can control.”
Al Bello/Getty Images
Joe Morgan is the Sports Reporter for The Daily Wire. Most recently, Morgan covered the Clippers, Lakers and the NBA for Sporting News. Send your sports questions to [email protected].
The views expressed in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.