When it comes to celebrities putting a bunch in the britches of the self-righteous, nobody on the planet does it better than basketball god LeBron James. For the last decade, the high and mighty — from the reliably acerbic Laura Ingraham, to the fundamentally insecure Trump, to “Courtside Karen” (Juliana Carlos), half of the unhinged couple ejected from an L.A. Lakers’ game in February after subjecting him to beyond-the-pale trash talking — have been lining up to spew vitriol James’ way.
The latest to join the throng of James’ haters is futbol’s Zlatan Ibrahimovic (“Ibra”), who for more than two decades has been a premier player in his own sport. In a February interview covered by the Union of European Football Associations, Ibrahimovic chastised James for his political activism: ”Do what you’re good at. Do the category that you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football, I’m no politician. If I’d been a politician, I would be doing politics...This is the first mistake famous people do when they become famous and come into a certain status.”
James’ retort was swift and equally blunt: “I preach about my people and I preach about equality. Social injustice. Racism. Systematic voter suppression. Things that go on in our community. Because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that was going on, and I know what’s going on still, because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice. And I’m their voice.”
After two weeks of silence, Ibrahimovic was more than unrepentant in a March 2 news conference. Prompted to follow up on what’s become a very messy and public fracas, Ibrahimovic only paraphrased himself: “Our role is to unite the world by doing what we do best. Athletes should be athletes and politicians should do politics.”
As of this issue’s deadline, LeBron has yet to return this second serve. But whatever retort James does or doesn’t offer, what’s for sure is a sizeable slice of conservative outlets have yet again seized on the non-issue issue of celebrity politics.
We’ve been here before. In the hypocritical universe of Republican absolutes, celebrity politics — when high profile figures outside the realm of politics speak to the issues of the day — is considered a curse on Pax Americana, a poisoning of the very well of democracy.
In that vein party purists miss few opportunities to call out liberals trading on their names, but seem oblivious to the scores of prominent conservatives, whose soapboxes came courtesy of B movies or bed pillows. Weird, but not unfamiliar logic.
Yet, more than the usual celebrity politics blather attends this proxy war of words between James and Ibrahimovic; for some right wing news outlet have been quick to “un-race” any analysis of what’s going on. It’s as though the racial zeitgeist doesn’t exist, and Fox News et. al stand ready to resist any other narrative.
This is a chilling reality with consequences. Consider an online post in response to a March 2 Fox update on the story.
On an otherwise typical Big Media chat list attached to the article, readers/viewers predictably began by criticizing both celebrity politics and James with great fury. Nothing new on either count. It’s Fox.
But as the 635 and growing posts continued, James’ character, then color were mentioned. Dozens of the authors began throwing off any pretense as to their racist ways, some thanking Ibrahimovic for championing their “cause”; one claiming the “African Touch” is ruining “… Govt, Music, Morality, Society, Politics, Education and Crime Rates” and we should “… look at at the success of such high tech industrial Nations as Nigeria, The Congo, Somalia and Haiti to name a few.” (All caps are the actual author’s.)
Two things are clear when reading those posts: 1. By no means do such racist screeds represent the best of today’s Republicans, but 2. The bastion of mainstream conservative media is willing to aid, abet, publish and platform bare racism under the guise of “Conversation,” the boilerplate name for the chat list.
Trump’s signature claims to the contrary, the media sure as hell matter. What should be just one more yawner of a star-on-star rehashing of celebrity politics has become a primer in no holds barred journalism, and the hate fests that follow.
Don Rollins is a Unitarian Universalist minister living in Hendersonville, N.C. Email donaldlrollins@gmail.com.
From The Progressive Populist, April 1, 2021
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