Laura Ingraham’s remarks regarding LeBron James’ political commentary did not sit well with many people, one of whom was Gregg Popovich.
After James unleashed his unapologetic opinion of President Donald Trump, Ingraham lashed out at the Cleveland Cavaliers star, claiming that James “shut up and dribble.”
For Popovich, who prides himself on being politically and socially conscious, Ingraham’s reaction to James speaking his mind was not one that had any base.
“To me, when I heard about that it was just an unbelievable show of arrogance for a talking head to try and tell someone else if they can speak, what they can speak about and when and where to do it,” Popovich told ESPN. “It’s just ludicrous, but (also) to not have a feel for who this guy is (is disappointing).”
As Popovich notes, Ingraham clearly was completely oblivious to all of the off-the-court work done by James, who is one of the most philanthropic athletes in all of sports. This notion, however, is not lost on the San Antonio Spurs head coach.
“There really is a First Amendment and you can have opinions — as a coach, as a plumber, as an astrophysicist and a lowly reporter. They can have whatever opinions they want, and that’s what’s amazing about this when you look at this guy, how many millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars he’s given, tens of millions of kids that are inspired by him. It’s kind of like the ‘Black Panther’ movie.
“How cool is that for kids to see that, to have that superhero? Well, LeBron’s been that for a long time. For somebody to be totally numb to that and attack him in such a childish way really speaks more volumes about that individual than it does LeBron. He’s very, very special. We should all be very proud that we have someone like that who’s willing to speak about a variety of topics and you listen to them all.”
