Laura Ingraham Invites LeBron James To Fox News Over “Shut Up And Dribble” Comments
Fox News host Laura Ingraham has invited basketball star LeBron James to her show, The Ingraham Angl..
Fox News host Laura Ingraham has invited basketball star LeBron James to her show, The Ingraham Angle, to talk about their war of words.
Ingraham started things on Thursday when she told James and fellow hoops star Kevin Durant to “shut up and dribble” when they criticized President Donald Trump in a video published that day by the Uninterrupted site. Ingraham attacked James on his credentials to comment on politics, since he bypassed college to go directly to the NBA after finishing high school.
“Look, there might be a cautionary lesson in LeBron for kids,” she said. “This is what happens when you attempt to leave high school a year early to join the NBA. And it’s always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid a hundred-million dollars a year to bounce a ball.”
James responded with his own hash tag = #wewillnotshutupanddribble – and a retweet of a USA Today story on Ingraham’s comments, complete with a shot of a neon sign at the Uninterrupted offices. His comment was, “I am more than an athlete.”
Other NBA players were more vocal in their support. Durant claimed the Ingraham comments were “racist,” and Miami Heat guard Dwayne Wade, a close friend of James, tweeted, “They used to try and hide it. Now the president has given everyone the courage to live their truths.”
Ingraham responded to the comments with a statement issued through Fox News.
“If pro athletes and entertainers want to freelance as political pundits, then they should not be surprised when they’re called out for insulting politicians,” Ingraham said in the statement. “There was no racial intent in my remarks – false, defamatory charges of racism are a transparent attempt to immunize entertainment and sports elites from scrutiny and criticism.”
