The sequel to the Laura Ingraham-LeBron James "Shut up and Dribble" controversy has arrived. Showtime announced plans Monday for a three-part series on athletes getting political, produced by James and others. It will air in October.
Last February James started the controversy in a tweet calling President Donald Trump "u bum" and then in vulgar remarks on his Uninterrupted internet presentation "Rolling with the Champion."
In a discussion with ESPN's Cari Champion and Kevin Durant, James said the President doesn't "give a f---" about people. Reacting on her Fox News' program, The Ingraham Angle, Ingraham told James to "shut up and dribble." Her comments were a spin-off from her 2003 NYT best-selling book Shut up and Sing urging entertainers to skip the anti-Bush rhetoric at concerts and perform.
Liberal media (here and here) outlets and liberal athletes rushed to defend James and vilify Ingraham.
James responded:
“First of all, I had no idea who she is or what she does ... We will definitely not shut up and dribble because I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth, I mean too much to so many kids who feel like they won’t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation that they’re in.”
Sounding like an echo chamber, media lemmings are now saying the time is ripe for athletes to go deeper into politics. A Sports Illustrated video caption read that the series "will focus on the changing role of athletes in today's current political climate." Variety's Joe Otterson says the series deals with "the changing role of athletes in the current political environment ..."
"LeBron is flipping that [Ingraham's] phrase on its head," writes NBC Sports' Dan Feldman. People magazine's Aurelie Corinthios claims, "Laura Ingraham‘s words are coming back to haunt her."
Nonethless, some media reports are admitting the series may be lacking in some respects. Otterson wrote the less-than-enthused qualifier, "The series could be interesting." Andrew Bucholtz, of the Awful Announcing blog, explained that the program planners started out directionless, not knowing what to include in or how to title the series. "Thanks to this insult from Ingraham, he now has a name for this Showtime series," Bucholtz wrote, adding that at least the timing may be interesting ...
"with James and politics again in the news thanks to U.S. president Donald Trump’s Twitter criticisms of him (over James appearing on CNN to talk to Don Lemon about the new school he’s funding in his hometown of Akron, Ohio) and the sports world firing back at Trump ... "
Showtime president and CEO David Nevins announced the series on Monday, stating:
“If being a star athlete is inherently a political experience, Shut Up and Dribble tells that complex and dramatic story from the past to the present and from the inside out. LeBron James is one of many competitors whose place in the spotlight has led not to silence but perspective, and he, Maverick Carter and Gotham Chopra have given us an important, insightful docuseries that should bring their fans and fellow citizens to a higher level of discourse, rather than the dismissal satirized in the title.”
