LeBron James is not giving NBA legend Kareem Adbul-Jabbar comments any credence. On Christmas Eve, James took to his Instagram and posted a meme, showing ‘cold’, ‘flu’, and ‘COVID’, labeled on three different spider-man characters, all pointing at each other with the caption ‘help me out folks’. Abdul-Jabbar penned a piece in his SubStack Monday, being critical of the meme and James’ past actions regarding the virus.
After James dropped 32 points in a 132-123 win over the Houston Rockets on Tuesday — a day after Abdul-Jabbar's essay titled, 'Dear LeBron: Here’s the COVID-19 Help You Requested in Your Spider-Man Meme' was published. The Lakers superstar said he has 'no response' to Abdul-Jabbar, but offered a lengthy response when explaining the controversial meme.
“No, I don’t have a response to Kareem at all,” James said.
"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 [omicron]." James continued, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has made people completely forget about 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 [Zhuri James] 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,”
Abdul-Jabbar has been one of the most vocal supporters around NBA circles for taking the COVID vaccine and following league and city mandates. Kareem has criticized other athletes on their COVID stance, including Kyrie Irving and Aaron Rodgers.
The Lakers legend described the meme as “uninformed,” and said, “LeBron has encouraged vaccine hesitancy which puts lives and livelihoods at risk.”
This is not the first, and it won't be the last time we hear from Abdul-Jabbar. He has called out James before, whether it was ripping him for his dancing or calling out his stance on the virus. If James or anyone else in the sports world does something that is deemed controversial in the eyes of Abdul-Jabbar--I'm sure the Hall of Famer will have a lot to say about it.
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