LeBron James Reacts To Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s Criticism of His Spider-Man COVID Meme
Kareem claimed LeBron’s COVID meme “encouraged vaccine hesitancy which puts lives and livelihoods at risk.”
NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is once again slamming LeBron James–this time for sharing a humorous COVID meme on Instagram.
On Monday, the old-school Lakers icon wrote a blog post blasting James, called “Dear LeBron: Here’s the COVID-19 Help You Requested in Your Spider-Man Meme.”
James had shared a meme that showed three Spiderman characters pointing at each other, labeled, “COVID,” “Flu” and “Cold.”
The current Lakers superstar captioned his Instagram post, “Help me out folks.”
Abdul-Jabbar dismissed the meme as “uninformed,” and said, “LeBron has encouraged vaccine hesitancy which puts lives and livelihoods at risk.”
Abdul-Jabbar continued: “With his message: ‘Help me out folks’ was a blow to his worthy legacy. The meme’s implication is that LeBron doesn’t understand the difference among these three illnesses, even after all the information that’s been presented in the press.”
“While LeBron is a necessary and dynamic voice critical of police brutality against the Black community, he needs to be the same necessary and dynamic advocate with vaccines, which could save thousands of Black lives right now.”
James, who says he is vaccinated against COVID-19, declined to respond to Abdul-Jabbar’s latest message in an interview about the meme.
“No, I don’t have a response to Kareem at all,” James said, via Harrison Faigen of SB Nation’s Silver Screen and Roll. “And if you saw the post and you read the tag, you know that I’m literally, honestly asking, ‘help me out.’ Help me kind of figure it all out, like we’re all trying to figure this pandemic out. We’re all trying to figure out COVID and the new strain.
“And the flu, I think people forgot about the flu. People like literally forgot about the flu during these times, like that’s still going around. It’s flu season, so people have forgot about the flu. People have forgot about common colds. That happens, especially with a lot of our kids that’s in school. My daughter is in first grade, so a lot of these kids are getting like common colds and getting the flu.
“But no, I don’t have any response to Kareem. No. At all.”
Earlier this month, Abdul-Jabbar dunked on James for his celebratory “Big Balls” dance after the Lakers beat the Pacers, calling it “stupid” and “childish.”
In September, James said “that’s not my job” while discussing why he won’t be an advocate for vaccines against coronavirus, reports the New York Post.
“You guys know me, anything I talk about, I don’t talk about other people and what they should do. I speak for me and my family. That’s what it’s about,” James said.
“We’re talking about individual bodies. We’re not talking about something political, or racism or police brutality. We’re talking about people’s bodies and well-being. I don’t think I personally should get involved in what other people should do for their bodies and livelihoods.”
Meanwhile, James is edging ever closer to matching Abdul-Jabbar’s on-court legacy.
During Tuesday’s 132-123 win over the Houston Rockets, King James became just the third player in NBA history to score 36,000 points–behind Hall of Famers Karl Malone and Abdul-Jabbar.