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Sports Illustrated
Sports Illustrated
Sport
Daniel Chavkin

LeBron James Addresses Jerry Jones Photo, Whether He’s ‘Woke’

LeBron James made waves last week when he called out the media for not asking him a question about the controversy surrounding Cowboys owner Jerry Jones. On Thursday, James clarified why he felt like needed to speak up if the media wasn’t going to ask him about Jones.

“I’m just holding them accountable, letting them know ‘I see you,’” he said on Amazon’s Thursday Night Football simulcast with The Shop. “I’m definitely woke, that’s for sure.”

James further explained that he feels as if athletes are held accountable in a way that media isn’t, so he took it upon himself to flip the narrative.

“The media is so quick to hold us athletes, especially Black athletes, to hold us accountable,” he 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.”

When James addressed the photo of Jones at a Little Rock protest in 1957, in which he was among white students blocking a door as the state attempted to integrate the schools, James mentioned how he was asked about the recent Kyrie Irving controversy, but not Jones.

“I was wondering why I haven’t gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo, but when the Kyrie thing was going on, you guys were quick to ask us questions about that?” James asked at the time.

James has always been willing to speak out when he wants his voice to be heard, and this is just another one of those moments.

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