LeBron James blasted the “slave mentality” of NFL owners during a conversation on his Friday night HBO show, calling them “old white men” who toss aside players who don’t follow orders.
“In the NFL they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” James said on “The Shop.” “And it’s like, ‘This is my team. You do what the f–k I tell y’all to do. Or we get rid of y’all.’”
The Los Angeles Lakers star’s comments followed grievances filed by NFL players Colin Kaepernick and Eric Reid, who say the league worked to keep them from playing because they knelt during the national anthem to call attention to racial injustice.
James contrasted the football bigwigs with NBA commissioner Adam Silver.
“I’m so appreciative in our league of our commissioner,” James said. “He doesn’t mind us having … a real feeling and to be able to express that.”