NBA star LeBron James used to be a big Dallas Cowboys fan, but he recently revealed he stopped rooting for the team because of Jerry Jones’s opposition to kneeling during the national anthem.
During a Thursday Instagram Live video, James explained, “I had to sit down on the Cowboys, man.” And all because Cowboys owner Jerry Jones forbade his players from performing anti-American protests during the national anthem.
LeBron James of the Miami Heat looks on from the sidelines before a game between the Dallas Cowboys and the New York Giants at AT&T Stadium on September 8, 2013, in Arlington, Texas. The Cowboys defeated the Giants 31-36. (Wesley Hitt/Getty Images)
“There was just a lot of things that was going on during when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech,” James said. “They wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ And I just didn’t think that was appropriate,” James said according to Fox News.
Lebron James says he’s not a fan of the Cowboys no more after the front office told the players if they kneel they won’t play 😳 pic.twitter.com/Ti0abHGfXv
— My Mixtapez (@mymixtapez) October 28, 2022
In 2017, Jones told players that there would be no kneeling as anti-American protester Colin Kaepernick pushed the league into expressing hate for the U.S. flag, the police, and our soldiers. Jones insisted that kneeling during the anthem was the wrong time for the players to express themselves and that disrespecting the flag would not happen on his watch.
“I know this, we cannot … in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones exclaimed in 2017. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear.”
So, as far as James is concerned, a team that respects the flag and the national anthem will not get his support. James said he still roots for individual Cowboys players, including running back Ezekiel Elliot and CeeDee Lamb. But he has switched his NFL fandom to the Cleveland Browns.
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