New York: LeBron James responded to Zlatan Ibrahimovic's criticism of his political activism with a promise that he will never just shut up and dribble.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar also pointed out that Ibrahimovic clearly didn't feel the same way about spotlighting social injustices when the soccer great called out racism in his native Sweden just three years ago.
Earlier, Zlatan had also said that athletes like LeBron James sometimes end up taking advantage of their status.
"I will never shut up about things that are wrong. I preach about my people and I preach about equality. Social injustice, racism, systematic voter suppression, things that go on in our community," a media organisation quoted LeBron James as saying.
"I was part of my community, I've seen the things that are going on. I have a group of 300-plus kids in my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice. I am their voice and I use my platform to shed light on things that are going on, not only in my community but around this country and around the world," he added.
Earlier, Zlatan had advised LeBron to just stick to basketball and talk about what he's good at, rather than going out of his way to talk about politics.
"LeBron is phenomenal at what he's doing, but I don't like it when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time," Ibrahimovic said.
"Do what you're good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I'm the best at playing football. I don't do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics. That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn't look good," he added.
However, LeBron has said that he does his homework before commenting on issues that are hampering the world.
"It's funny that he's (Ibrahimovic) said that because I believe back in 2018 he's the same guy who said that when he was back in Sweden, he was talking about the same things. Because his last name wasn't a certain last name, he felt like there was some racism going on while he was out on the pitch... right. He did say that, right? Yeah. I thought he said that. I speak from a very educated mind. I'm the wrong guy to go at because I do my homework," said LeBron James.
LeBron James has been vocal in his support for the Black Lives Matter movement and he has always thrown his support towards bringing equality in the world.
