{"id":182146,"date":"2021-02-28T19:15:32","date_gmt":"2021-03-01T00:15:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=182146"},"modified":"2021-02-28T19:15:36","modified_gmt":"2021-03-01T00:15:36","slug":"lebron-james-responds-to-swedens-zlatan-ibrahimovic-i-will-never-just-stick-to-sports","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/lebron-james-responds-to-swedens-zlatan-ibrahimovic-i-will-never-just-stick-to-sports\/","title":{"rendered":"LeBron James Responds To Sweden\u2019s Zlatan Ibrahimovic: I Will Never \u2018Just Stick To Sports\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">28<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Flebron-james-responds-to-swedens-zlatan-ibrahimovic-i-will-never-just-stick-to-sports%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=182146&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/LeBron-James-1-1.jpg?w=1200&#038;h=800&#038;ixlib=react-9.0.3\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>NBA star LeBron James hit back at Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Saturday for discouraging professional athletes from using their platforms for political activism.<\/p>\n<p>James responded to Ibrahimovic in a post-game interview after James\u2019 Los Angeles Lakers beat the Portland Trail Blazers 102-93. James said that he uses his platform to shine a light on \u201csocial injustice\u201d in the United States and \u201caround the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI would never shut up about things that\u2019s wrong. I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social injustice, racism, you know, systematic [sic] voter suppression, things that go on in our community,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was a part of my community at one point and seen the things that was going on, and I know that, you know, what\u2019s going on still because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that\u2019s going through the same thing, and they need a voice, and I\u2019m their voice,\u201d he continued, referring to his <a href=\"https:\/\/ipromise.school\/\">I Promise School<\/a> in his hometown of Akron, Ohio. \u201cI\u2019m their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that may be going on, not only in my community, but around this country and around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>James\u2019 has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/lebron-james-backed-campaign-paid-off-fines-of-40000-felons-so-they-can-vote-report-says\">poured<\/a> money into philanthropic and activist efforts in the United States dealing with issues such as alleged systemic racism and voter suppression. He has also taken heat for some issues his voice has been noticeably quiet on. James has <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/lebron-james-lectures-mlb-commissioner-about-ethics-clay-travis-blasts-back-on-james-the-nba-and-china\">refused<\/a> to speak out against China\u2019s human rights abuses in Hong Kong and Xinjiang, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/lebron-bows-to-communist-china-pro-hong-kong-advocates-not-educated-negative-things-come-with-free-speech\">defended<\/a> the Chinese state against criticism from others in the NBA.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s no way I will ever just stick to sports because I understand how, you know, this platform and how powerful my voice is,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n<p>He then went after Ibrahimovic, who plays for Italy\u2019s AC Milan, for using his platform as an international soccer star to advocate for issues in his home country of Sweden.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI believe in, like, 2018 [Ibrahimovic] was the same guy who said \u2013 when he was back in Sweden \u2013 talking about the same things because his last name wasn\u2019t a certain last name that he felt like it was some racism going on when he was out in the pitch. Right? He did say that, right?\u201d James challenged. \u201cYeah, I thought he said that, so. I speak from a very educated mind. I\u2019m kind of the wrong guy to actually go at because I do my homework.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">LeBron responded after Zlatan Ibrahimovic criticized him for his activism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m kind of the wrong guy to actually go at because I do my homework.\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/VyKgBrYuiz\">pic.twitter.com\/VyKgBrYuiz<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SportsCenter\/status\/1365549208795758594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 27, 2021<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>In 2018, Ibrahimovic told a French television outlet that he believes he has not gotten full credit for his skill as a player because of racism in the media. \u201cThere is undercover racism. This exists, I am 100 percent sure. Because I am not Andersson or Svensson,\u201d Ibrahimovic said, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/theathletic.com\/news\/lebron-calls-out-zlatan-ibrahimovic-for-saying-stay-out-of-politics\/Z4or8nSgH6Qn\">The Atlantic<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/news\/swedish-soccer-star-slams-lebron-james-stop-preaching-politics-do-what-youre-good-at\">Ibrahimovic called out James<\/a> for using his position as a pro-athlete to weigh in on politics.<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he\u2019s doing, but I don\u2019t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time,\u201d Ibrahimovic said. \u201cDo what you\u2019re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I\u2019m the best at playing football.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics,\u201d he added. \u201cThat is the 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\u2019t look good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>The Daily Wire is one of America\u2019s fastest-growing conservative media companies and counter-cultural outlets for news, opinion, and entertainment. Get inside access to The Daily Wire by becoming a<\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailywire.com\/subscribe\"><em>member<\/em><\/a><em>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>NBA star LeBron James hit back at Swedish soccer player Zlatan Ibrahimovic on Saturday for discouraging professional athletes from using their platforms for political activism. James responded to Ibrahimovic in &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2274423,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/LeBron-James-1-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"LeBron James Responds To Sweden\u2019s Zlatan Ibrahimovic: I Will Never \u2018Just Stick To Sports\u2019","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/LeBron-James-1-1.jpg?w=1200&h=800&ixlib=react-9.0.3","fifu_image_alt":"LeBron James Responds To Sweden\u2019s Zlatan Ibrahimovic: I Will Never \u2018Just Stick To Sports\u2019","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182146\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2274423"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}