LeBron James accused the media on Thursday of burying Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones’s 1957 photo controversy that recently came to light.
James accused media of not asking him questions about Jones’s photo in the same manner as they did when Brooklyn Nets player Kyrie Irving was suspended for his antisemitic comments.
In a recently-published photograph from 1957, Jones could be seen taking part in a protest against Black students entering his high school.
The Dallas Cowboys owner was allegedly one of the bullies who blocked access to these students at the Central High in Little Rock, Arkansas, in 1957.
The photo created controversy, with people accusing Jones of racism.
James told reporters after his impressive all-round performance against the Portland Trail Blazers: “I was wondering why I haven’t gotten a question from you guys about the Jerry Jones photo, but when the Kyrie thing was going on, you guys were quick to access questions about that.”
James continued: “When I watched Kryrie talk, and he says, ‘I know who I am’, but I want to keep the same energy when we’re talking about my people and the things that we’ve been through. And that Jerry Jones photo is one of those moments that our people, Black people, have been through in America.
“And I feel like, as a Black man, as a Black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong or something that people don’t agree with, it’s every tabloid; every news coverage is on.. the bottom ticker is it’s asked about every single day.”
He added: “But it seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation photo, and I know it was years and years ago, and we all make mistakes. I get it. They seem like it’s just been buried under like, oh, it happened. Okay. We just we just move on. And I was just kind of disappointed. I haven’t received that question from you guys.”
Irving apologised after he was suspended by the Brooklyn Nets and was given a five-game ban.
