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When Kyrie Irving promoted antisemitic content and refused to denounce antisemitism, he faced media backlash and lost many of his endorsements.
Now, LeBron James is wondering why Jerry Jones isn’t facing similar scrutiny for a questionable moment in his past.
After the Lakers’ 128-109 win over the Trail Blazers on Wednesday, James concluded his postgame press conference by asking media members why they weren’t asking him about a photo that recently surfaced of Jones being an onlooker at the infamous Little Rock Nine event in Little Rock, Arkansas.
A recent Washington Post story questioned Jones’ contributions to advancing Black people in the NFL, while displaying the photo prominently in the piece.
Jones defended his presence at the event, saying he was simply curious and did not participate in any discrimination against the Black students at Little Rock Central High.
“I didn’t know at the time the monumental event really that was going on,” Jones added. “I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that. I am. That would remind me [to] just continue to do everything we can to not have those kinds of things happen.”
All the same, James was quick to point out the hypocrisy to the media.
“When I watch Kyrie talk and he says, ‘I know who I am, but I want to keep the same energy when 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,” he said. “When [Black people] do something wrong, or something that people don’t agree with, it’s on every single tabloid, every single news coverage, it’s on the bottom ticker. It’s asked about every single day.
“But it seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation, photo — and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it — but it seems like it’s just been buried under, like, ‘Oh, it happened. OK, we just move on.’ And I was just kind of disappointed that I haven’t received that question from you guys.”
Although the Irving and Jones situations are different, which may give the latter some respite, the Post pointed out that the Cowboys owner has never hired a Black head coach.
James used to be a Cowboys fan — but has since renounced his fandom following the team’s handling of the Colin Kaepernick situation.
