BEVERLY HILLS, February 27, (THEWILL) – Veteran AC Milan forward and former Swedish striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic has asked LeBron James to focus on his craft and eschew getting mired in politics because it was better for the L.A. Lakers superstar and other big name athletes to stick to what they did best and leave politics to politicians.
The 39-year-old was speaking at an interview with UEFA and Discovery+ Sweden when he uttered this censure of politically outspoken athletes and activist sports personalities.
“I like (LeBron) a lot, and he 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 what they’re doing. Do what you’re good at,” Zlatan said during the interview.
The self-styled basketballer King James is one of the most socially and politically active athletes today.
In March 2012, while still with the Miami Heat, James honoured the memory of the late teen Trayvon Martin along with his teammates. George Zimmerman shot and killed the 17-year-old Martin a month earlier, claiming to have done so in self-defence and was acquitted.
Since then, James did not become less but even more vocal on social justice issues and activism. In December 2014, he wore a shirt that referenced the “I Can’t Breathe” words of Eric Garner, another victim of police killings who died under a chokehold by a member of the New York Police Department with those words on repeat on his lips.
The 36-year-old four-time MVP was on record to have referred to former President Donald Trump as a “bum” in September 2017 after Trump rescinded a White House invitation to the NBA champion Golden State Warriors. In February 2018, his continued excoriation of Trump prompted Fox News host Laura Ingraham to tell James and another fierce critic of the President, pro basketballer Kevin Durant, to “shut up and dribble.”
Unsurprisingly, James, the 16-time All-Star, did not follow her advice and has continuously used his platform to speak out against injustice and inequality in America.
Zlatan clearly thinks otherwise and argues that it is best for James to keep his opinions to himself when it comes to politics.
“Do the category you do,” Ibrahimovic insisted. “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 endeavoured to clarify his position.
But, Ibrahimovic misses the point that James is not just all talk. The King partnered with a number of current and former athletes to form “More Than a Vote”, which focused on combating voter suppression and increasing Black voter turnout for the 2020 November election.
A tremendous cornerstone of the group’s efforts was turning NBA arenas and team facilities into voting centers which helped with the record black voting numbers in many areas.
The Swede seemed to imply professional athletes are not equipped to affect social change. However, the efforts of James and many other prominent athletes have done enough to make that opinion a moot one.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
