In recent days, Donald Trump has not held back his thoughts in regards to helping the three college basketball players recently arrested in China return to the United States. In response, the father of one of the players hasn't been too appreciative of the president's help.
Ball on Trump
It all started earlier this month in China when three members of the men's basketball team at UCLA were arrested for shoplifting. The story quickly became headline news due to the potential punishment of the crime in the country, and due to the name-value of one of the players involved.
Cody Riley, Jalen Hill, and LiAngelo Ball, of the high-profiled Ball family, were taken into custody, all while President Donald Trump was in Asia on his foreign trip. Upon hearing the news, Trump spoke with Chinese President Xi and was able to reach an agreement that released the three players and allowed them back to the United States. Trump made sure to hit back on social media, complaining that he didn't receive proper thanks for taking the time to help the three men out. After arriving home, all three of the players expressed their gratitude to the president, but the same couldn't be said for LaVar Ball, father of LiAngelo. After LaVar Ball was questioned about Trump helping his son, he quickly dismissed the president's actions, mockingly asking the press, "who?" As expected, Trump wasn't pleased and referred to Ball as "ungrateful" on Twitter, while publicly regretting not leaving the players in a Chinese jail.
As seen during an interview on CNN on November 20, Ball fired back.
"If you help, you shouldn't have to say anything," says LaVar Ball, father of UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball, adding, "Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and let's just stay in our lane" https://t.co/CzyFZ2YTO1 pic.twitter.com/1XiXEg6Pl4
— CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2017
Joining host Chris Cuomo, who was filling in for Don Lemon, on CNN, LaVar Ball refused to thank Donald Trump for helping his son and his teammates avoid jail time in China for shoplifting.
"He didn't even know they were over there," Ball said, before asking, "why was he even there?" "I don't have to go around saying thank you to everybody," Ball went on to say. "If you (Trump) come and shake my hand. Or meet me or meet my son...lets do it that way," he continued.
LaVar Ball, the father of a basketball player freed from China who also recently ran afoul of President Trump on Twitter, talks with @ChrisCuomo: "I don't have to go around saying thank you to everybody" https://t.co/Y1HRSycqyD pic.twitter.com/a7in4bLogG
— CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2017
LaVar Bell then went on to dismiss his son's shoplifting as a major crime, explaining that he apologized and that he has seen much worse growing up in low-income neighborhoods.
"He fessed up to it," Ball said. "It was an impulse thing, a bad decision at a bad time, that's all it was for an 18-year-old who never done anything wrong," he noted.
"He fessed up to it. ... It was an impulse thing, a bad decision at a bad time, that's all it was for an 18-year-old who never done anything wrong," says LaVar Ball, father of UCLA basketball player LiAngelo Ball https://t.co/NE3kictbKv pic.twitter.com/ZGobFZ6Aug
— CNN (@CNN) November 21, 2017
Ball's warning
Not stopping there, LaVar Ball then went on to say that he and Donald Trump should "stay in your own lane" and and that the president shouldn't worry about the Ball family. "If you help, you shouldn't have to say anything," he said.
"Let him do his political affairs and let me handle my son, and let's just stay in our lane," Ball noted. Ball concluded his interview by giving an apparent sarcastic Happy Thanksgiving to the president.
