Jason Whitlock has come under fire for comments that have insulted the black community time and again during his career. On Thursday, he continued that narrative by making race-related comments about LeBron James, set to start his NBA Finals defense at night. The Cleveland Cavaliers star was at the center of a hate crime a day earlier and responded to it through the media. Yet Whitlock decided that the superstar couldn't be the target of racism - he was too rich.
LeBron James and the racist graffiti
James normally spends the playoffs trying to avoid controversy and social media altogether.
He couldn't do so on Wednesday, however, when he discovered that his Los Angeles home was spray-painted with graffiti, including a racial epithet. Police stated that the graffiti was quickly covered up and nobody was home, but the damage was done in the eyes of James and many others.
When speaking to the media, James discussed how hard it was to be away from his family in Cleveland (the NBA Finals begin in Oakland) after a hate crime such as Wednesday's. He also brought up civil rights icon Emmett Till and how his mother had an open casket at the funeral so that the torture Till was put through would not go unnoticed to the larger world. James concluded by saying that being black in the United States remains "tough" and that the country has a long way to go to achieve racial equality.
That was enough for Whitlock to hear.
Whitlock irks black community with comments
Whitlock, a personality for Fox Sports, appeared on "The Herd" on Thursday. One of Colin Cowherd's questions related to James and the star's response to the incident. Whitlock went off, calling the incident a "disrespectful inconvenience" for the basketball player before claiming that racism is a problem mostly for poor black people, not people who have amassed material wealth like James.
Just look at how difficult it is to talk to Whitlock. He just doesn't get it. Shout out to @Chris_Broussard ✊🏾 pic.twitter.com/KX6cFz0AJw
— Jasmine (@JasmineLWatkins) June 1, 2017
Whitlock also took major issue with James' comparison to Emmett Till, believing any connection between the situations to be nonexistent. He also finished his comments by claiming that poor people have it worst off in the United States, regardless of racial factors.
People immediately exploded on Twitter, claiming Whitlock had no authority to speak on the subject and comparing him to another sports journalist viewed through problematic lenses: Sage Steele. He probably won't pay much mind to the backlash, however, and James in turn won't pay much attention to him.
