Fox issued a statement from Laura Ingraham, host of “The Ingraham Angle,” Friday afternoon, denying any “racial intent” in her remarks about James, Kevin Durant and Cari Champion.
Appearing recently in a video for James’ “Uninterrupted” multimedia site, the trio discussed President Donald Trump, with James saying the Trump doesn’t “give a f—” about the American people.
Said Ingraham in her statement:
James’ longtime friend and teammate Dwyane Wade wasn’t buying that race didn’t play a factor in Ingraham’s insulting remarks about the King’s lack of a college education.
Late Friday, James had a brief response to the Fox News host’s comments posting out the hashtag saying, “We will not shut up and dribble.”
PREVIOUS: Fox News has found a new sports enemy besides protesting NFL players: LeBron James.
A post shared by LeBron James (@kingjames) on Feb 16, 2018 at 7:47pm PST
Fox’s Laura Ingraham declared King James should “shut up and dribble” after the Cavaliers superstar said President Donald Trump doesn’t “give a f—” about the American people.
MORE: What is LeBron James’ net worth? Here’s a breakdown
The conservative host of “The Ingraham Angle” also insulted James for trying to leave high school a year early to enter the NBA. LeBron’s’ “R-rated” take on Trump was “barely intelligible, not to mention ungrammatical,” said Ingraham, her voice dripping with sarcasm.
The populist commentator was referring to James’ and Kevin Durant’s newest “Uninterrupted” video with Cari Champion, in which the two NBA superstars and ESPN anchor agree that Trump’s comments are often “laughable” and “scary.” Said Ingraham:
MORE: LeBron’s platform can’t be torn down by Fox News hosts — or anyone else
Fox News anchors have supported Trump’s campaign against NFL players kneeling for racial/social justice this season.
The James-Durant-Champion video for Uber gave Ingraham and Fox the opportunity for a rare triple play: They could bash James and ESPN while simultaneously defending Trump.
James has never hid his feelings about Trump, calling the president a “bum” on social media.
But Ingraham’s and Fox’s attack on James, one of the most politically outspoken players in the NBA, didn’t go over too well in the sports media world.
While Ingraham wants James to shut up about politics, she had no problems with Tim Tebow (who appeared in an anti-abortion Super Bowl commercial), noted Justin Baragona of Mediate.
Columnist Mike Freeman of Bleacher Report tweeted that Ingraham’s comments were “appalling.”
Jemele Hill of ESPN’s The Undefeated was also offended.
“LeBron is one of greatest examples of our country we’ve ever seen. He went from nothing to something. He had to be excellent at everything. To insinuate he’s not intelligent is appalling,” she tweeted.
