LeBron James has shut off his social media feed during the Cavaliers’ hopeful run to repeat as NBA champions, but he hasn’t been out of the loop when it comes to what occurred at Fenway Park on Monday night.
After the Cavs coasted to a 2-0 series lead against the Raptors Wednesday, James shared his thoughts on the incident in Boston involving Orioles outfielder Adam Jones, who was the subject of racial slurs including the N-word by Red Sox fans and the target of a thrown bag of peanuts.
“It’s a delicate situation,” James said. “Racism, we know, exists. You try not to put yourself in a position, for me as a father, I try to give my kids the blueprint on how life is gonna be. But at the end of the day, I can only tell them so much, and they have to go out and live it themselves. For me, I just try to be respectful, for one, respectful to others, and I feel like if you do that consistently, then I believe the karma will come back to you.”
James, whose 39 points put him ahead of Kareem Abdul-Jabbar for second in playoff scoring behind Michael Jordan, said that unlike Yankees pitcher CC Sabathia, he hasn’t experienced racism from fans in Boston as a visiting player.
“With the Adam Jones situation, I don’t know who said it or what happened, the whole community in Boston, whatever the case may be, and I’ve heard a couple athletes say that you expect that when you go to Boston,” James said. “For me, I’ve been to Boston and I’ve played in Boston a lot, I just try to have tunnel vision when I play. I can’t recall ever hearing something that was racism towards me.”
The Cleveland star also praised Red Sox players like Mookie Betts, who urged fans on Twitter to applaud Jones Tuesday night, for supporting an opposing player.
“I think it was great that the other guys spoke up for him, not even on his own team, the guys from the Red Sox spoke up for Adam Jones saying like, ‘Hey fans, this is a situation where you guys need to have a standing ovation. Please do that,'” James added.
The Red Sox, who issued an apology to Jones and the Orioles on Tuesday, said they were “sickened” by the incident and that they maintain a zero tolerance policy for such fan behavior.
The team promptly enforced that rule during Tuesday night’s game when Red Sox security ejected and banned for life a fan who hurled a racial slur at another fan.
James said these incidents are a bad look for American sports.
“It’s not great for sports. It’s not great for society,” he said. “You got guys like Martin Luther King, who all he talked about was trying to unite all of us — no matter the color, no matter the race, no matter the shape or size.
“Racism is gonna be a part of time forever, I believe, but I think for us, the people that have the opportunities to have a voice and people that have an opportunity to have some play on the youth that’s coming up, we have to lead them the best way we can, and we have to live with the results, so hopefully I was able to answer your question. It’s a real, real longer conversation, but if we can keep the conversation going, I think it helps.”
