LeBron James apologized Sunday after sharing an insensitive Instagram post of a song lyric that referenced “Jewish money,” although the NBA will reportedly not reprimand the King.
According to ESPN, the league won’t yet take any action to discipline Los Angeles Lakers star James — who will turn 34 on Sunday — over the incident.
James appeared on Saturday to quote the song “ASMR” by 21 Savage when he wrote the phrase “We been getting that Jewish money. Everything is Kosher.” The Lakers power forward has 45.9 million followers.
The King issued his apology after his team’s 107-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies on Sunday evening.
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“Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone. That’s not why I chose to share that lyric,” James told ESPN’s Dave McMenamin. “I always [post lyrics]. That’s what I do. I ride in my car, I listen to great music, and that was the byproduct of it. So, I actually thought it was a compliment, and obviously it wasn’t through the lens of a lot of people. My apologies. It definitely was not the intent, obviously, to hurt anybody.”
James’ controversial post came just one day after a segment of his HBO series The Shop aired that showed him making another fiery statement.
In the clip that aired Friday, James lambasted NFL team owners, calling them “old white men” with a “slave mentality” with regards to their players. The Lakers star appeared to primarily cite the league’s response to national anthem protests like kneeling before games as a reason for his claim.
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James then compared the NFL to the NBA and praised Commissioner Adam Silver without naming him, saying he has been very cordial in his approach to players wanting to peacefully protest or make any type of bold statement.
“In the NFL, they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” James said. “And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f— I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all.’ ”
He continued: “I’m so appreciative in our league of our commissioner. He doesn’t mind us having .. a real feeling and be able to express that. It doesn’t even matter if Adam agrees with what we are saying, he at least wants to hear us out. And as long as we are doing it in a very educational, non-violent way, then he’s absolutely OK with it,” he added.
James has voiced support many times for fellow athletes like Colin Kaepernik who have spoken out on social issues like racial injustice.
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