USA Today via Reuters
Los Angeles Lakers forward LeBron James slammed NFL team owners as “old white men” who harbor a “slave mentality” toward players during his TV show. James made the comments in a new episode of HBO’s “The Shop” that aired on Friday which featured his business partner, Maverick Carter, “Law and Order: SVU” star Ice Cube and Los Angeles Rams running back Todd Gurley. They were discussing NFL players who protested social injustice, and Gurley called the topic a “touchy subject,” according to USA Today. James then criticized NFL owners for trying to “exert” control over players. “In the NFL, they got a bunch of old white men owning teams and they got that slave mentality,” he said. “And it's like, ‘This is my team. You do what the [expletive] I tell y'all to do. Or we get rid of y'all.’” James then praised NBA Commissioner Adam Silver for supporting basketball players who come out in support of social justice issues. “I'm so appreciative in our league of our commissioner,” James said. “He doesn't mind us having .. a real feeling and be able to express that. It doesn't even matter if Adam agrees with what we are saying, he at least wants to hear us out. And as long as we are doing it in a very educational, non-violent way, then he's absolutely OK with it.” Like James, many NBA athletes have emphatically criticized police brutality and gun violence. NBA players have not faced pushback from the league, which stands in sharp contrast to the NFL. Colin Kaepernick, who in 2016 spurred ongoing controversy after kneeling during the national anthem to protest police brutality, has since not played in the NFL.