LeBron James’ name surfaced on the Internet once again after calling Donald Trump a “bum.” This Twitter call out happened after Trump commented on Stephen Curry’s hesitation to visit the White House. The POTUS then announced that Curry and the rest of the Golden State Warriors were no longer invited.
Apparently, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert had his own share of experience following the Twitter fiasco. According to Bleacher Report, Gilbert received multiple racist voicemails after LeBron James called President Trump a “bum.” Here is everything about it in a nutshell.
Racist calls
Gilbert revealed that the voicemails he received were “the most vile, disgusting, racist messages.” He further added that some of them were so extreme that he did not even realize they existed “in this country this much.” The dispute jumpstarted when the Warriors superstar Stephen Curry confirmed that he didn’t want to join the traditional White House visit. This was to basically celebrate the team’s 2017 NBA championship. Interestingly, it was not just Curry who voiced the same decision. Kevin Durant and coach Steve Kerr also confirmed that they were not interested in joining the visitation.
Curry explained that his views did not change at all and that his decision would remain the same.
But as far as his teammates were concerned, he could not speak for them. “I don’t want to go,” he explicitly said. He even added that this was the nucleus of his belief. Curry joins the hundreds of athletes who dislike Trump so much. Following Curry’s revelation, the POTUS was quick to retaliate on Twitter. He said that Curry and the rest of the team were no longer invited.
Soon after, LeBron James called him out and said that visiting the White House was honor “until” he came.
The reaction grew
As expected, James’ tweet garnered so much attention on social media. As of this writing, it already has 1.5 million likes and over 600,000 retweets. Gilbert said that he has yet to inform James about the messages he received on voicemails.
It is worth noting that this is not the first sports-related controversy that Trump got involved. He also made headlines after his polarizing comments suggesting that NFL owners must fire players who do not stand for the country’s national anthem. His comments, later on, received the ire of many people, most especially those who were against him. Kobe Bryant, in particular, tweeted his own take and said that a president who would cause division could not “Make America Great Again.”
