NBA legend LeBron James has been a hero of the left for his anti-Trump, anti-conservative screeds, garnering plenty of adoring media coverage for bashing the right.
But now James has done the unthinkable: He’s raised doubt about COVID-19.
And so far, the left-wing media yawn.
On Christmas Eve, the Los Angeles Lakers superstar posted a meme on Instagram for his 106 million followers. It featured the well-known Spiderman comic in which three different versions of the superhero are pointing in accusing fashion at each other.
In James’s case, the trio were labeled “COVID,” “flu” and “cold.”
“Help me out folks,” James added in the post.
As Sports Illustrated explained, James “like many Americans, appears to be frustrated with the current issues around COVID-19. The virus has ripped through the NBA once again as the omicron variant has taken hold, though most players have been either asymptomatic or have had mild cases, according to reports.”
Part of James’ frustration could be personal. Although he’s vaccinated, he was forced to miss a game this month because of a false-positive on a COVID test.
He complained that a false test can send players who show no symptoms into the NBA’s protocols, costing them playing time.
“James is catching plenty of heat for the post,” SI’s report continued. “Some think he’s downplaying COVID-19, which has killed over 800,000 Americans, as something as relatively benign as a cold or the flu, while others wonder if he’s commenting on the difficulties presented by the similarities of the symptoms.”
“It’s impossible to know for sure what LeBron was going for without hearing him expand on his point here.”
And few in the media seem willing to ask – despite the suggestion, as SI noted, that James could be spreading “misinformation” about the virus.
Some individual liberals actually have tried to shame their hero online.
As one Twitter user put it, “Lol this the same guy who never makes it past the first few pages of a book? Pro tip: Don’t ever listen to people who don’t READ. Reading is fundamental. Nearly every question LeBron has about COVID-19 and its severity can be answered by reading. He just doesn’t do it.”
Yet other than SI and some NBA-specific websites, James’ post has been ignored by the major, liberal media.
On the other hand, Fox News, The New York Post, and other right-leaning media have pointed out the meme to call attention to James, whatever his motive may have been.
Conservatives also have pointed out the media hypocrisy on Twitter.
Greg Pollowitz, an editor for the conservative website Twitchy.com, tweeted, “If @TuckerCarlson tweeted this, it would lead CNN for a week. But bc it’s @KingJames?” He added a rendering of a shoulder shrug.
Clay Travis of Outkick.com said of the meme on Twitter: “LeBron off the top rope on coronabros! Did we just become best friends?!” He added, “Fascinating how @espn covers every single utterance of LeBron yet hasn’t mentioned one word about this Instagram post calling out the covid absurdity in pro athletics.”
John Ziegler, perhaps the only conservative at the media-oriented site Mediate.com, tweeted, “Combined with Joe Biden declaring “Let’s Go Brandon!” & the NFL finally admitting asymptomatic spread is a myth, @KingJames posting this meme (effectively ending the pandemic within sports) may make this the greatest Christmas Eve in the history of conservative/rational America!”
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