{"id":637716,"date":"2021-08-12T15:50:32","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T19:50:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=637716"},"modified":"2021-08-12T15:50:34","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T19:50:34","slug":"fact-check-did-lebron-james-blame-systemic-racism-for-space-jam-2s-low-box-office-numbers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fact-check-did-lebron-james-blame-systemic-racism-for-space-jam-2s-low-box-office-numbers\/","title":{"rendered":"FACT CHECK: Did LeBron James Blame Systemic Racism For \u2018Space Jam 2\u2019s\u2019 Low Box Office Numbers?"},"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\">32<\/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%2Ffact-check-did-lebron-james-blame-systemic-racism-for-space-jam-2s-low-box-office-numbers%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=637716&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\/08\/LeBron_Hated-e1623156479603.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>A post&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/steven.spotts.71\/posts\/10227166202598112\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" data-saferedirecturl=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/url?q=https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/photo.php?fbid%3D10222658814453538%26set%3Da.2134205769221%26type%3D3%26theater&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1628779283170000&amp;usg=AFQjCNHqB4ff2D8QRUj8sevUVEvGnvR2Eg\">shared on Facebook<\/a> claims NBA player LeBron James blamed systemic racism for \u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy\u2019s\u201d low box office numbers.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Verdict: False<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence James said the statement attributed to him. The claim appears to originate from a parody Twitter account.<\/p>\n<p><span><strong>Fact Check:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy,\u201d which stars James, made over $31.65 million its opening weekend, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forbes.com\/sites\/scottmendelson\/2021\/07\/18\/box-office-lebron-james-space-jam-2-tops-marvel-black-widow-with-32m-weekend\/?sh=72767da85e46\">Forbes<\/a> reported. The movie has grossed over $135 million in domestic and international sales to date, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficemojo.com\/title\/tttt3554046\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Box Office Mojo<\/a>. The Facebook image shows what appears to be a screenshot of a tweet from BBC News claiming James said the reason for low box office sales is because of systemic racism.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBREAKING: Lebron James blames disappointing SPACE JAM 2 numbers on the \u2018long history of systemic racism at the box office,&#8217;\u201d reads the tweet. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/checkyourfact.com\/2021\/07\/23\/fact-check-bbc-news-tweet-joe-biden-pardon-ted-kaczynski\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">(RELATED: Did Joe Biden Pardon Ted Kaczynski?)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>There is no evidence, however, James blamed systemic racism for his movie\u2019s box office numbers. A search of James\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KingJames?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">verified<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/LeBron\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">social media<\/a>&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kingjames\/?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">accounts<\/a> turned up no instances of such a comment. Had the basketball player said systemic racism was the reason \u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy\u201d had disappointing box office numbers, media outlets likely would have reported on it, yet <a href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/search?q=lebron+james+systemic+racism+at+the+box+office&amp;oq=lebron+james&amp;aqs=chrome.0.69i59l2j46i433i512j0i433i512l2j69i60j69i61l2.1230j0j4&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">none<\/a> have.<\/p>\n<p>The tweet did not stem from BBC News. The outlet\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/BBCNews\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter account<\/a> has a blue verification checkmark, <a href=\"https:\/\/help.twitter.com\/en\/managing-your-account\/about-twitter-verified-accounts\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">indicating<\/a> it is the authentic BBC News account, whereas the account shown in the Facebook post does not. Nothing resembling the tweet could be found on the genuine, verified, BBC News <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=Lebron%20James%20(from%3ABBCNews)&amp;src=typed_query\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Twitter account<\/a>. Nor is there any mention of James saying the quote on the outlet\u2019s&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.bbc.co.uk\/search?q=lebron+james&amp;page=1\">website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>A closer look at the screen grab shows the <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210729210224\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcnewsbutgayer\/status\/1420851482560274436\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">tweet<\/a> was sent by the Twitter account @BBCNewsButGayer, which <a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20210725094445\/https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcnewsbutgayer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">stated<\/a> in its bio that \u201cthis is a parody account.\u201d The account has since been <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/bbcnewsbutgayer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">suspended<\/a> by Twitter for violating its platform rules.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSpace Jam,\u201d which starred retired basketball player Michael Jordan and was released in 1996, earned $230 million at the box office worldwide, according to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.boxofficemojo.com\/title\/tt0117705\/\">Box Office Mojo<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A post\u00a0shared on Facebook claims NBA player LeBron James blamed systemic racism for \u201cSpace Jam: A New Legacy\u2019s\u201d low box office numbers.Verdict: False There is no evidence James said the &#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2315279,"comment_status":"close","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-637716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637716","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=637716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637716\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2315279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}