Appearing on a Thursday Night Football simulcast, LeBron James clarified his comments from last week, in which he criticized the media for not asking him about a recently unearthed photo of Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. James defended his words, arguing that he was standing up against individuals who are not often held accountable.
“The media is so quick to hold us athletes, especially black athletes, to hold us accountable,” James said. “We can’t make mistakes, they want to bring up everything. I wanted to hold the media accountable, the fact that they didn’t ask any one of us, I didn’t hear a question for any athlete, especially in the basketball world, about the situation.”
James’ comments came after a photo taken in 1957 was unearthed depicting a 14-year-old Jones standing in a group of white children blocking the path of a group of black children desegregating his high school in Arkansas.
James’ original comments last week concerned what he perceived to be a double standard between players like Kyrie Irving and Jones, as well as the media’s failure to address both issues equally. He was angry that the media did not ask him about the Jones photo after weeks of questions about the situation surrounding Irving.
“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,” James said at the time.
In response to James and the unearthing of the photo, Jones said that he and his friends were at the event out of curiosity, not as an act to prevent the black students’ entrance into the school. Jones has previously been criticized for his response to Cowboys players kneeling for the national anthem, as well as his failure to hire a black head coach for the team after decades as the owner.
