Donald Trump Deemed NBA players 'Nasty', 'Dumb' For Kneeling During Anthem; LeBron James' Response Revealed
Donald Trump called out the players and coached from the National Basketball Association after they knelt in unison during the National Anthem. He deemed the act as "disgraceful," adding that the participants were all "nasty" and "dumb."
USA Today reported that the act was in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. The players, reportedly, had messages, related to the "protest," written on the back of their jerseys during the event.
Speaking to Fox Sports Radio earlier this week, the US President dramatically expressed his disapproval about the protest. He, also, stated that the act itself "has been horrible" for basketball.
Donald Trump, then, claimed that the NBA is in "bigger trouble than they understand." He, reportedly, explained that the viewers are "angry" about what they did, leading to the alleged "horrible ratings" and "low numbers" in viewership.
The same publication noted that his "feud" with the players started way back in the early stages of his presidency. As reported, he "uninvited" the Golden State Warriors, who were the NBA champions during that season, from visiting the White House in 2017.
This, reportedly, prompted several players to call him out, including LeBron James, who referred to him as a "bum." Following Trump's disapproval of their recent stint to protest social injustice, James, once again, responded to the US President's claims. Reports said that he "laughed off" Trump's criticisms, emphasizing that the basketball community is not "sad" about losing viewership.
The host of the interview, Clay Travis, later on, asked Donald Trump whether he was aware that some of the players responded to his sentiments. He shared that he would "not be surprised," but he has not noticed any criticism yet from them.
Before ending the interview, Travis asked the US President who was the better player between Michael Jordan and LeBron James, according to Forbes. Trump revealed that the public likes Jordan better because he was not political.
The practice of kneeling during the National Anthem has become a "controversial" topic in the field of sports in the wake of George Floyd's killing amid the pandemic crisis. While it obtained attention only recently, the publication said that it started with the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
He first knelt, in 2016, in protest of police brutality and social injustice, as per the Chicago Tribune. But, unlike Donald Trump, his predecessor, the former US President, Barack Obama, reportedly, "defended" Kaepernick's protest at that time, stating that it is his constitutional right.