It’s official; LeBron James thinks that some of the criticism about the way he announced his decision to bolt to leave the Cavaliers for the Miami Heat — the infamous The Decision ESPN TV extravaganza — is due to racism. He said so during and interview on CNN on Wednesday, in which he talked alonside friend and business partner Maverick Carter. Transcript:
SOLEDAD O’BRIEN, CNN (voice-over): “According to industry insiders, James and Carter have done just fine, striking multi-million dollar deals with State Farm, Nike and McDonalds. But those deals were overshadowed by this summer’s decision and negative headlines which seemed to tarnish LeBron James, the athlete, and the brand.”
CARTER: “It’s just about control and not doing it the way it’s always been done or not looking the way that it always looks.”
O’BRIEN (on camera): “Do you think there’s a role that race plays in this?”
JAMES: “I think so at times. It’s always, you know, a race factor.”
CARTER: “It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure.”
O’BRIEN (on camera): “If you look at polls, there was some poll that said he was a top sixth disliked athlete. Do you worry about that?”
CARTER: “The decision he made to go play for the Miami Heat, that’s it. That’s where he’s going to play, so that’s not going to change anytime soon. He’s going to go play there. And you know, hopefully their team will do great.”
On LeBron’s infamous Twitter “enemies list.”:
O’BRIEN: “LeBron tweeted, I will remember those of you who said this and did this. What’s that mean?”
CARTER: “That means the fuel that he’ll be playing with will be super duper duper premium. He usually plays with super premium. This year, that’s a little higher grade of fuel.”
Oh brother.
Carter also admitted that the timing of The Decision could have been better. And LeBron defended the show from the perspective of the good it did for the Boys & Girls Club.
“For me to have the opportunity to give back to the Boys and Girls Club of America, I would never change that,” James said. “And if I have to take heat, to give back to kids, I would do it the same way every single time.”
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CNN Transcripts [CNN Archives]
Maverick, LeBron discuss “Decision” on CNN [Ohio.com]
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- Schmoopy - Sep 30, 2010 at 2:23 PM
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LeBron demanded that his director’s chair be 1/8 inch higher than Jim Grey’s.
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- Whitey Pearl - Sep 30, 2010 at 6:57 PM
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Always the same thing. Wake up, people.
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- steelerdynasty - Oct 1, 2010 at 11:38 AM
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Is this guy serious? Just another illustration of his lack of maturity on the issue. He obviously doesn’t realize that this is the price of superstardom, NOT the price of being black. Pitiful, just pitiful.
