Gulf Today - Panorama

NBA star James slams NFL owners’ ‘slave mentality’

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National Basketball Associatio­n (NBA) superstar Lebron James offered a scathing take on National Football League (NFL) team owners on the latest episode of his HBO show The Shop last weekend, saying the gridiron league is run by “old white men” with a “slave mentality.” James was chatting with his business partner Maverick Carter, Los Angeles Rams star Todd Gurley and actor/rapper

Ice Cube about NFL player protests over social injustice. Gurley noted it was a “touchy subject,” but James, who hasn’t been shy to take on political and social issues, criticised NFL owners for wanting to “control” players. He went on to praise NBA commission­er Adam Silver for his support of players who use their platform to speak out on social issues. “In the NFL, they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” James said. Silver, in contrast, “doesn’t mind us having... a real feeling and be able to express that,” James said. The NFL hasn’t been able to shake the controvers­y that erupted after former San Francisco 49ers quarterbac­k Colin Kaepernick began kneeling during the pre-game national anthem to protest social and racial injustice.

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