Hollywood, FL 10/2/2010 12:55:12 AM
LeBron Blames Racism for Bad Media Coverage
LeBron James recently blamed racism on the bad media coverage he received after his summer announcement that he would be joining the Miami Heat. During an interview for CNN that aired on Wednesday, James was asked by CNN's Soledad O'Brien whether or not he felt that racism played a role in the media's often critical reaction to his one-hour ESPN special The Decision. "I think so at times," James said. "It's always, you know, a race factor." James' manager Maverick Carter also chimed in on the issue, saying "It's just about control and not doing it the way it's always been done
or not looking the way that it always looks... It definitely played a role in some of the stuff coming out of the media, things that were written for sure." Neither James nor his manager cited specific instances, but the general claim seems to be that the media was less receptive of James' high-profile announcement than they might have otherwise been simply because James is black. But James didn't really want to say too much about the topic during the interview. "I think people are looking too far into it," James said. "But at the
same time, sometimes [racism] does play a part in it. I've said what I had to
say, and I'll continue to move on." It is true that LeBron's highly sensationalized announcement special was highly criticized by the media. But that probably had more to do with the nature of the program, which many perceived as narcissistic and over-the-top, than with racism. Surely racism is always a factor in the media, whether intentional or not, but it is unclear how much of a unique role it really played in LeBron's case. (Sources: ESPN.com)
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