Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James has fired back at Ac Milan icon, Zlatan Ibrahimovic for telling him to “stick to sports” and not politics.
The Times 2020 Athlete of the Year has become a strong voice against police brutality and racism, including the Black Lives Matter movement as well as the shooting of another Black American, Jacob Blake – who has been left paralysed, by the police.
LeBron has also been involved in US politics and has openly criticised former President Donald Trump who called him an outspoken hater while declaring support for his successor, President Joe Biden, way before the November 3 election.
In a recent interview with UEFA for Discovery+ in Sweden, the current AC Milan striker essentially told Los Angeles Lakers star, LeBron James, to “stick to sports” and was critical of athletes’.
“(LeBron) is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time,” Ibrahimovic said.
“Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football. I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics.
“That is the big first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.” he added. [USA Today]
Zlatan Ibrahimovic uppskattar basketspelaren Lebron James men tycker inte att han ska lägga sig i politiken: “Lebron är fenomenal på det han gör, men jag gillar inte när folk med status lägger sig i politik”
Lång intervju med Zlatan Ibrahimovic: https://t.co/oXm5gjmhKv pic.twitter.com/J3L82GWLD6
— discovery+ sport 🇸🇪 (@dplus_sportSE) February 25, 2021
Reacting to the former LA Galaxy and Manchester United striker’s comment, the four-time NBA champion said:
“At the end of the day, I will never shut up about things that are wrong,” he said in response to Ibrahimovic’s comments. “I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, voter suppression, things that go on in our community because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that were going on, and I know what’s still going on because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice.
“I’m their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that might be going on, not only in my community but in this country and around the world.
“There’s no way I would ever just stick to sports, because I understand this platform and how powerful my voice is. He can just ask Renee Montgomery if I would have shut up and just dribbled, just seeing that beautiful Black woman today be part of a group – she’s part of the ownership group with the Atlanta Dream.”
LeBron also highlighted how Ibrahimovic called out ‘undercover racism’ back in 2018 amid criticism from the Swedish press.
“It’s funny he’d say that because I believe in 2018 he was the same guy who said, when he was back in Sweden, talking about the same things, because his last name wasn’t a certain last name, that he felt like it was racism going on when he was out on the pitch,” said James.
“Right? He did say that, right? I thought he said that. I speak from a very educated mind. I’m kinda the wrong guy to actually go at, because I do my homework.” [Talk Sports]
