Photo by Issac Baldizon/NBAE via Getty Images
The Lebron James, Dr. Dre Power Beats commercial is HILARIOUS!! Comedian Affion Crocket was a nice touch. I especially appreciate that Lebron was open enough to allow “the Decision” to be included as a punch line. It shows that he’s moving past it and can laugh about it. But it debuts a day after a CNN interview he did with Soledad O’Brien where he addressed the backlash of his move to the Heat.
Lebron and his friend and business partner (manager… I feel as if his title is undefined) Maverick Carter acknowledged that the special may not have been handled the best. Lebron also had this to say regarding the negative reaction some have had and if racism has played a role in it.
“I think so, at times,” he told CNN correspondent Soledad O’Brien.”It’s always, you know, a race factor.”
Maverick also shared his thoughts on the role race played in the aftermath of the special.
“It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure,”
I can agree that race plays a part in most things (subtle and overtly), I think at it’s core, the majority of the hate Lebron is receiving isn’t because he’s black and decided to leave the Cavs. I believe it’s simply that people felt a TV special combined with what some may consider poor taste by not informing the Cavs prior to it airing LIVE, was embarrassing.
There are several different ways the whole issue can be picked apart. Purely from a sports POV; people are mad he opted not to do it the way his Basketball forefathers did. Not because he’s a black man making a choice. For the average sports fan, this is him picking someone else’s team over theirs. i.e. Charles Barkley’s comments, Michael Jordan etc.
For the casual observer, who hasn’t followed Lebron’s career closely. Not realizing his life as it relates to basketball and the media has been a spectacle since he was in the 8th grade, it appeared arrogant and self serving to appear on TV to say you WEREN’T returning to Cleveland. Not because he’s a black man that choose to switch job locations.
Cavs owner Dan Gilbert’s letter. Yeah that felt personal (Clearly) and there was a vibe that seemed to surround the whole cosmic sans font flame fest that I would absolutely agree had racial undertones.
But overall, I don’t think this backlash is about race. But with race being such a sensitive subject, intertwined in everything (we take race stats for sickness, the unemployed, highest earners etc) how do you know when it’s really not coloring one’s thought process? Just my 2 cents!
Enjoy the commercial!
