LeBron James‘ new HBO show “The Shop” premiered last night (Aug. 28), where celebrities from sports and entertainment have a no holds barred conversation in a barbershop.
Snoop Dogg was a guest, along with Odell Beckham Jr., Vince Staples, the WNBA’s Candace Parker, NFL Player Michael Bennet, comedians Jerrod Carmichael and Jon Stewart, and the episode is already getting a lot of attention.
In one part of the discussion, James talked about the differences between white and Black professional athletes and gave an example of a fan approaching one of them for a photo.
“If it’s [Tom] Brady, if it’s [Aaron] Rodgers, if it’s [Peyton] Manning and we’re doing the same exact [thing],” James began.
“I’m talking about a phone is out. We’re like, ‘Yo, get that (expletive) phone out of my face. I’m with my family.’ If we’re out with our family and we say that (expletive) and somebody posts it, and if Aaron Rodgers or one of those guys say that (expletive) and they post it, somebody’s going to be like, ‘Hey, you guys should respect Aaron Rodgers,'” he explained.
Although James never shied away from talking about race and social issues, he seemed to be a lot more vocal since Donald Trump took office.
In fact, he’s called Trump a “bum” at one point, refused to go to the traditional White House visit if his team won the NBA championship and during a recent interview with Don Lemon, accused the president using sports to divide the races.
Shortly after, Trump insulted James through a tweet and called him dumb which he was blasted for.
On “The Shop,” the former Cleveland Cavalier also talked about speaking on social issues and how it made him less popular, which he’s fine with.
“My popularity went down,” said James. “But at the end of the day, my truth to so many different kids and so many different people was broader than me personally.”
“I want the satisfaction,” he added. “Not for myself but for everybody else. I was raised off of Snoop [Dogg] and [Tupac] and [Jay-Z] and Biggie, and now I get an opportunity to be the inspiration around what all of these kids are looking up to? And for me to just sit back and not say s— when a lot of my peers didn’t say s—? It didn’t feel right.”
“At the end of the day, when I decided I was going to start speaking up and not giving a f— about the backlash or if it affects me, my whole mindset was it’s not about me,” continued James. “My popularity went down but at the end of the day, my truth to so many different kids and so many different people was broader than me personally.”
Elsewhere in the conversation, the Los Angeles Laker talked about attending an all white Catholic high school as a teenager, and how he didn’t want to interact with anyone when he first got there.
“So when I first went to the ninth grade in high school, I was on some ‘I’m not f—king with white people,’” James recalled. “Because I was so institutionalized growing up in the hood, I’m like ‘They don’t f–k with us. They don’t want us to succeed’ … I’m like, ‘I’m going to this school to play ball and that’s it. I don’t want nothing to do with white people.’”
James also said at first, he didn’t know if his high school liked him as a person or for what he could do on the basketball court.
LeBron talks about the transition from his neighborhood to his catholic high school, being around all white people for the first time and finding out what a pantry is pic.twitter.com/BhIpxsC5xJ
— Rob Lopez (@r0bato) August 29, 2018