President Donald Trump is dividing the nation through sports, claimed NBA star LeBron James during a CNN interview on Monday.
Trump is “dividing us,” accused Lebron. “What I’ve noticed over the last few months, he’s kinda used sport to kinda divide us, and that’s something that I can’t relate to because I know that sport was the first time I ever was around someone white and I got the opportunity to see them and learn about them and they got an opportunity to learn about me and we became very good friends.”
“Sports has never been something that divides people; it’s always been something that brings someone together,” he added.
Yet athletes, including James, have been using sports to perpetuate their political agendas, too, which one might categorize as “divisive” behavior. For example, there’s the highly-controversial and racially-charged NFL national anthem protest, which predates the president’s time in office. Additionally, LeBron himself has worn a hyper-divisive, pro-Black Lives Matter “I can’t breathe” T-shirt during warmups. This is not to say he doesn’t have a right to do so, of course, but it does highlight LeBron’s inability to objectively critique who is “dividing” the nation via sports.
When asked about being “disinvited” from the White House by Trump, LeBron said, “I would never sit across from him. I’d sit across from Barack, though.”
WATCH:
Watch the full interview, below: