LeBron James used to be a huge Dallas Cowboys fan. However, the 37-year-old recently revealed that he no longer supports the NFL team due to how their management handled the national anthem protests.
According to TMZ, the Los Angeles Lakers star mentioned it during an Instagram Live conversation with Maverick Carter last Thursday. James told his business partner that he decided to stop supporting the NFL team after becoming dissatisfied with an ultimatum issued by the team’s management to players who planned to take a knee in protest of racial injustice.
According to How Africa, the NFL was accused of blackballing Colin Kaepernick after the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback made national headlines for kneeling during the national anthem. The athlete and civil rights activist explained that he was kneeling to protest racial injustice in the United States. Other athletes were inspired by Kaepernick’s actions to protest in a similar manner. But the Dallas Cowboys were reportedly not having it.
“A lot of people in the front office and in the organization were like, ‘If you do that around here, you will never play for this franchise again,'” he added. “I simply didn’t think it was appropriate.”
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones joined players on his team to take a knee in solidarity prior to the start of a Monday Night Football game in 2017. When the national anthem was played, they all stood up.
Conservatives largely condemned Kaepernick’s decision to kneel during the national anthem. Trump, who was president at the time, directed that anyone kneeling during the national anthem be fired.
And, while James has nothing against Cowboys players such as CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons, and Ezekiel Elliott, he has stated unequivocally that he now supports the Cleveland Browns.
