Lebron James wasn’t finished saying what he had to say.
Late Saturday morning, the NBA star penned a now popular tweet, calling Donald Trump a “bum” in response to his withdrawal of an invitation to the White House from the Golden State Warriors following what he claims was “hesitation” from point guard Steph Curry.
Well, that remark was only a scratch on the surface of the controversy that the POTUS had been stirring up all weekend, and Lebron James later decided to upload a video clip, detailing his beef with Trump and putting out a call to action for the American people.
“It’s basically at a point where I’m just a little frustrated because this guy that we’ve put in charge has tried to divide us once again,” the 3-time NBA champion began. “Obviously, we all know what happened with Charlottesville and the divide that caused, and now it’s hitting home for me even more because he’s now using sports as the platform to try and divide us. We all know how much sports brings us together, how much passion it has, how much we love and care, and the friendships and everything that it creates. For him to try and use this platform to divide us even more, it’s not something I can stand for and it’s not something I could be quiet about. [He’s] asking NFL owners to get rid of players because they’re exercising their rights, and that’s not right.”
“When I wake up I see that a colleague of mine has been uninvited from something that he said that he didn’t even want to go to in the first place. That’s just something I can’t stand for. We got Jemele Hill and Colin Kaepernick—all these people are speaking up. It’s for the greater cause. It’s for us to all come together. It’s not about division. It’s not about divide. We as American people need to come together. This is a very critical time.”
Aside from James, a flurry of athletes across multiple sports have stepped out to voice their support of the silent demonstration of taking a knee during the national anthem and condemning Trump’s comments. As NFL Sunday gets underway, it will be interesting to see the league’s actions following various statements from league owners, players, and even commissioner Roger Goodell.
According to journalist Shaun King, a number of at least 50 players have expressed their intent to silently protest during the national anthem on Sunday by either taking a knee, sitting down, or raising a fist.