James is ‘intelligent and a bright guy’
AKRON: NBA star LeBron James won praise on Monday from an Ohio school district for his support of disadvantaged children in his hometown of Akron, after US President Donald Trump attacked him in a weekend tweet questioning his intelligence.
The president lashed out at James after the three-time NBA champion was interviewed by CNN’s Don Lemon largely to tout a public school in Akron that his foundation helped to open last week.
During the interview James said sports was something that unites Americans but that Trump “used sport to kind of divide us,” drawing the retaliatory tweet from the president. The “I Promise” public school in Akron, which opened last week, will offer classes for “at-risk” students in the third and fourth grades and add first and second grades the following year, the foundation website said. The school will be finished by 2022 with first through eighth grades.
James also promised a free bicycle and helmets for students and vowed to pay tuition to the University of Akron for I Promise graduates, among other things.
“Anyone that’s done what LeBron James has done for the past decade to 15 years for our children to prepare them to flourish in life has to be an intelligent person,” Akron Public Schools spokesman Mark Williamson said in a telephone interview on Monday. “He’s a bright guy, end of story.”
The comment came after Trump on Friday tweeted “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 president’s “I like Mike!” comment was an apparent reference to the perennial sports debate over whether six-time NBA champion Michael Jordan, or James, a fourtime league most valuable player, was the NBA’s all-time best player.
Jordan, who rarely wades into the political fray, and other US athletes rallied to James’ defence on Saturday, praising him for his work in his community.
Meanwhile, James has yet to play a minute for the Los Angeles Lakers, but the NBA superstar is already busy in Hollywood.
James is behind the three-part documentary series “Shut Up and Dribble” announced on Monday by Showtime.
Set to debut in October, the same month James suits up for his new team, the series looks at the changing role of athletes in the current political and cultural climate against the backdrop of the NBA. Its title comes from a comment Fox News host Laura Ingraham made to James in February when she sought to rebuke him for talking politics during an interview.
James is the executive producer of the series along with his business partner Maverick Carter and his agent Rich Paul. Gotham Chopra, who directed Showtime’s “Kobe Bryant’s Muse’’ in 2015, helmed the project.