On Thursday, NBA star LeBron James took to Instagram live to relay news that his longtime, famous Cowboys fandom was coming to an end. The future Hall of Famer’s gripe with the organization was over the handling of kneeling during the national anthem.
LeBrons business partner Maverick Carter asked him on Instagram live if he was still a Cowboys fan.
“Nah, man, I had to sit out on the Cowboys, man. There was just a lot of things that was going on during when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech,” James said. “They wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ And I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”
James then clarified that although he liked many players on the team still, he is “all in on the Browns.”
In 2016 Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem in protest to issues he believes black people face in this country such as police brutality and systematic oppression.
This started a tidal wave and in 2017 teams league-wide were having full rosters protest the national anthem in one way or another. The Cowboys and owner Jerry Jones did not take well to this happening on his team.
Jones was adamant that this was America’s Team and they would stand for the national anthem or players would be off the team. This was a very controversial and stanch stance on the issue discussed by the entire country.
“I know this, we cannot … in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones said at the time. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear.”
James’ reaction to the Cowboy’s views is no surprise as in 2020 he joined the NBA in their kneeling during the national anthem movement.
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