LeBron James has launched his latest attack on Donald Trump during an interview with the web series Uninterrupted.
“The number one job in America ... is someone who doesn’t understand the people, and really don’t give a fuck about the people,” James said in a video alongside fellow NBA All-Star Kevin Durant.
The interview was conducted last month just after the US president is said to have referred to Central American and African countries as “shitholes”. James said he was not shocked by Trump’s comments: “It’s not even a surprise when he says something,” the three-time NBA champion said. “It’s, like, laughable; it’s laughable and it’s scary.”
James has spoken out against Trump in the past and said he was happy to use his fame to call out the president. “While we cannot change what comes out of that man’s mouth, we can continue to alert the people that watch us, that listen to us that this is not the way,” he said.
James was also asked about the perception that money can protect African Americans from racism. He cited his own experience last year, when his house in LA was daubed with racist graffiti. “I’m a black man with a bunch of money. And having a crib in Brentwood and having the word nigger spray painted over my gate – that lets you know that I ain’t too far removed and I still got a lot more work to do.
“No matter how far, money, or access, or how you become in life as an African American man, female, they will always try to figure out a way to let you know that you still beneath them. It’s either one of two things at that point. You either cave into that notion, or you just chalk it up and say: ‘You know what? I’m going to paint over this goddamn gate and I’m gonna make it taller.’”
