{"id":942469,"date":"2026-10-22T20:14:16","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:14:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942469\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T20:14:16","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T20:14:16","slug":"trump-blasts-76ers-star-lebron-james-as-disgrace-for-not-standing-still-during-national-anthem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/942469\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump blasts 76ers’ star LeBron James as ‘disgrace’ for not standing still during national anthem"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Thursday accused LeBron James<\/a> of disrespecting the United States after the NBA star appeared to continue his warmups while the national anthem was performed before Philadelphia\u2019s season opener on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cI said right from the beginning that he\u2019s no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE,\u201d Trump said of James in a social media post sharing the video. \u201cLeBron James<\/a> should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!\u201d<\/p>\n

James appeared to practice a golf swing and jump shot as The Star-Spangled Banner was performed at Tuesday\u2019s game in New York. James, starting his first season with Philadelphia, was lined up alongside teammates who mostly stood still during the anthem.<\/p>\n

Trump and James have been critical of each another for years, occasionally trading public swipes.<\/p>\n

James had not made a public comment or a social media post as of Thursday afternoon about Trump’s gripe. <\/p>\n

The 41-year-old James, in his record 24th NBA season, was set to make his home debut for the Sixers Thursday night against Cleveland.<\/p>\n

Among some of the more notable times James became entangled with the president or politics:<\/p>\n

LeBron wears 1 black shoe, 1 white shoe<\/p>\n

James was with Cleveland in 2017 when he made a statement during an NBA game with his shoes \u2014 one black, one white, with the word \u201cequality\u201d in capital gold letters on the back of each.<\/p>\n

Then, after the game, James made a statement about Trump, saying: \u201cThis is a beautiful country and we\u2019re never going to let one person dictate how beautiful and how powerful we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

James had called Trump \u201c a bum \u201d on Twitter and also said earlier that season of the president: \u201cHe doesn\u2019t understand how many kids, no matter the race, look up to the president of the United State for guidance, for leadership, for words of encouragement. He doesn\u2019t understand that, and that\u2019s what makes me more sick than anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shut up and dribble<\/p>\n

James showed determination to speak out on social issues and the nation\u2019s political climate after Fox News host Laura Ingraham criticized the four-time NBA champion for his 2018 comments about social issues. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will definitely not shut up and dribble,\u201d James said. \u201cI will definitely not do that. I mean too much to society. I mean too much to the youth. I mean too much to so many kids that feel like they don\u2019t have a way out and they need someone to help lead them out of the situation they\u2019re in.\u201d<\/p>\n

James referenced Muhammad Ali, Jim Brown, Bill Russell and Jackie Robinson as athletes who previously spoke up for equality and change with no concerns about the consequences or any rewards.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know it\u2019s bigger than us,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

Get people to the polls<\/p>\n

James was named The Associated Press\u2019 Male Athlete of the Year in 2020 in large part for leading the Los Angeles Lakers<\/a> to a championship and helped convince many \u2014 at the peak of Black Lives Matter \u2014 who had never voted to finally head to the polls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI still know what I do on the floor and obviously, I give everything to the game,\u201d James said. \u201cBut I can make a greater impact off the floor right now, more than I can on the floor. And I want to continue to inspire people with the way I play the game of basketball. But there\u2019s so many more things that I can do off the floor to help cultivate people, inspire people, bring people together, empower them.\u201d<\/p>\n

James rejects Zlatan\u2019s criticism of activist athletes<\/p>\n

AC Milan striker and former LA Galaxy star Zlatan Ibrahimovic blasted socially conscious athletes in a 2021 interview. Ibrahimovic called it \u201ca mistake\u201d for James and other athletes to get involved in political causes, saying they should \u201cjust do what you do best, because it doesn\u2019t look good.\u201d<\/p>\n

James, naturally, rejected the criticism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would never shut up about things that are wrong,\u201d James said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP White House reporter Collin Binkley in Washington contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

\n See AP\u2019s full NBA coverage here\n <\/p>\n

Dan Gelston, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA (AP) \u2014 President Donald Trump on Thursday accused LeBron James of disrespecting the United States after the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":942470,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,77,459,714,82],"class_list":["post-942469","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-international","tag-nba","tag-politics","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=942469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/942469\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/942470"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=942469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=942469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=942469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}