Last Updated on February 14, 2022
Soccer superstar Zlatan Ibrahimović, who currently plays for the Italian-based football club A.C. Milan, criticized basketball player and Black Lives Matter agitator LeBron James this week for constantly badgering fans about leftist grievance politics.
“He is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time,” Ibrahimović said of James during an interview with Discovery+ Sport.
“Do what you’re good at,” Ibrahimović continued. “Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football. I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics.”
The superstar striker concluded, “That is the big 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’t look good.”
Zlatan Ibrahimovic uppskattar basketspelaren Lebron James men tycker inte att han ska lägga sig i politiken: "Lebron är fenomenal på det han gör, men jag gillar inte när folk med status lägger sig i politik"
Lång intervju med Zlatan Ibrahimovic: https://t.co/oXm5gjmhKv pic.twitter.com/J3L82GWLD6
— discovery+ sport 🇸🇪 (@dplus_sportSE) February 25, 2021
James’ ill-informed and often barely literate political hot takes have earned him praise from left-wing corporate media and the Black lives Matter movement, but have drawn harsh criticism from fellow athletes for sullying the unspoken code of professionalism.
UFC star Colby Covington derided James as a “spineless coward” after soundly beating Black Lives Matter activist Tyron Woodley last September:
Covington, an avid Trump supporter who frequently wears MAGA paraphernalia and has received shoutouts from the presidential family, thoroughly dominated Woodley through the first four rounds of the fight.
The Black Lives Matter activist frequently caught heavy hands to the face from Covington, and spent a good deal of time on the ground and being pushed back against the cage, before crying out in pain in the fifth round until the referee stepped in to halt the proceedings.
Covington pulled as few punches in the post-fight interview as he did during the fight.
“I’m sick of these woke athletes, and spineless cowards like Lebron James,” Covington stated.
James has repeatedly appeared unable to provide a substantive explanation to fellow athletes for his clumsy political antics.
