NBA icon, Michael Jordan, may be worth a $1.65BILLION, but right about now, many fans believe his latest statement about Donald Trump’s LeBron James tweet ain’t even worth 165 pennies. Why? Because many feel that his response is the epitome of lackluster complacency about our society. See why below.
The Tweet That Started It All
As most of us have heard by now, on Friday evening Donald Trump did what he always does- let his Twitter fingers get tuh talking and offend whomever he sees fit in that moment. After checkin’ out LeBron James’ inspiring interview with CNN’s, Don Lemon, Trump tweeted this:
Donald Trump- “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do. I like Mike!”
The “Mike” Trump’s referring to is apparently Michael Jordan, whom many fans have increasingly compared LeBron’s career to.
Now, we can talk all day long about how incredibly insensitive and ignorant it is of Trump to slam LeBron for opening a school for inner city kids in his hometown- Akron, OH- which guarantees paid college tuitions upon their graduation. However, that convo’ isn’t needed because simply making such a statement, as the 45th president of United States, speaks volumes all on its own. Moving on…
Therefore, I wanna instead focus on the reactions NBA icon, Michael Jordan, has been receiving from many, as well as the response he finally gave nearly 34 hours later.
Almost immediately after Trump called LeBron and Don Lemon “dumb,” athletes everywhere, slammed him on social media:
https://twitter.com/spidadmitchell/status/1025719952739844098
So let me get this straight: Flint, MI has dirty water still, but you worried about an interview about a man doing good for education and generations of kids in his hometown? Shut your damn mouth! Stop using them twitter fingers and get stuff done for our country with that pen. https://t.co/sEkX3OKaJM
— Karl-Anthony Towns (@KarlTowns) August 4, 2018
Fans soon began to realize that Jordan was remaining silent on the matter, even though Trump brought him into the conversation. Many comments were left online, bashing Jordan’s silence, then came this…
Jordan’s Late Response
After feelin’ that heat getting a lil’ too hot in this social media kitchen, Michael Jordan pulled a wealthy person move, by responding about the incredibly offensive Trump tweet via his publicist. Here’s his statement:
Michael Jordan's statement on Donald Trump's tweet about LeBron James. pic.twitter.com/9kplP3vxwW
— The Sporting News (@sportingnews) August 4, 2018
NBA Legend, Matt Barnes, & Others Call Out Michael Jordan
There was one retired NBA player, who then faced Jordan head on over this- Matt Barnes. Clearly, Matt had a lil’ time on his hands within the past 24 or so, because he posted a series of messages online, to put both Trump and Jordan on full blast.
First, Matt made a good point, that Jordan has made a fortune off his Nike Jordan brand, but typically says very little, if anything at all, to stand up against injustices and degradation against his own customers. Matt included a meme with a message that read:
Matt Barnes- “Besides selling overpriced shoes that kids are being beat up & killed over, when is Michael Jordan gonna step up & stand for & with the people that support him so much?”
He also captioned his post with this message:
MB: “Trump is the perfect example of how a man shouldn’t act! Maybe it’s the little dick syndrome ♂️ After he ended his insecure rant about Lebron yesterday by finishing w “I like Mike” I really feel like for once MJ should step up & say something for all of us who’ve supported this man & bought his expensive ass shoes for all these years! #ILikeLebron -Just my thoughts”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmELI7PF7ZX/
Then, Barnes gathered up a few of Trump’s past tweets, in which he completely contradicted himself, regarding his opinion about LeBron James:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BmEQZV-lFeu/
Fans followed suit and bashed the hell outta Jordan over his elusive response and as y’all can already imagine, they let Jordan HAVE it! Reactions ranged from folks questioning Jordan’s motives, to accusing him of trying to play it safe so he can still sell his shoes, despite the degradation of his people:
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he said something…but you can tell his desire to sell shoes dampened the tone.
— ÄlêxåñÐêr †hê Grêå† (@xandergomez) August 4, 2018
Don't get me wrong, I'm glad he said something…but you can tell his desire to sell shoes dampened the tone.
— ÄlêxåñÐêr †hê Grêå† (@xandergomez) August 4, 2018
https://twitter.com/YIhougan/status/1025822011682119681
Wow so courageous of him… pic.twitter.com/DTwQ7bi4E1
— Diane P (@dtheavenger) August 4, 2018
MJ is without a doubt, the G.O.A.T. But as a community leader, he shouldn’t even be mentioned in the same breath as LeBron. MJ kinda reminds me of those “neutral” countries during WW2, wanting to pacify both sides when there’s a clear choice to be made.
— NeverAgain14 (@yesungluluvz14) August 4, 2018
Wait he had to use a publicist to say that ?
— aaron charlow (@acharlowmedia) August 4, 2018
I think the debate over who’s better at the sport, is a valuable debate. However, a debate over whether or not Jordan is anything like LeBron- when it comes to publicly standing up against injustices (keyword being ‘publicly’), by risking his own livelihood in the process- there is no comparison. LeBron wins that hands down, but that’s not a diss, because I’m pretty sure Jordan even knows that.
