LeBron Calls Out Media Response To Jerry Jones' 1957 Photo

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LeBron James isn’t feeling the double standard in the media and used his time during a press conference after the Los Angeles Lakers 128-109 win over the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday to address it. James questioned why the media has not asked him about a 1957 photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, then 14, among a crowd of white students attempting to block Black students to enter a Little Rock, Arkansas High School at a desegregation rally. But would ask him multiple questions about his former teammate, Brooklyn Nets point guard Kyrie Irving after the star shared a link to a documentary containing antisemitic tropes.

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“I got one question for you guys before you guys leave. I was thinking when I was on my way over here, I was wondering why I haven’t gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo,” said James. “But when the Kyrie thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that.”

James also said, “And I watched Kyrie talk and he says “I know who I am” and I want to keep the same energy we’re talking about my people and the things that we’ve been through. And that Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments that our people, black people have been through in America. And I feel like, as black man as a black athlete as someone with power and a platform, we do something wrong or something that people don’t agree with, every single tabloid, every single news coverage is on the bottom ticker is asked about every single day, it just seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation, photo and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistake, I get it. It seem like it just been buried under like, oh, it happened. Okay, we just, we just move on. And I was just kind of disappointed. I haven’t received that question from you guys.”

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Jones spoke on the photo, which was used in a Washington Post article detailing the Cowboys owner and General Manager’s history of not hiring a Black Head Coach for one of the most storied franchises in not just football, but sports. In 2017, Jones said he would not “tolerate” any of his players “disrespecting the flag” of the United States after kneeling during the National Anthem became popular during Colin Kaepernick’s peaceful protests. Jones did kneel with Cowboys players before a Monday night game against the Arizona Cardinals but it was not during the Star Spangled Banner.

James, was once an avid Cowboys fan, appearing on the teams’ sidelines with Jones but has since renounced his fandom. On a recent Instagram Live appearance tp promote on his show “The Shop” during a watch-along telecast with Amazon’s Thursday Night Football, James said the team’s opinion on kneeling was a major factor.

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