LeBron James is done with the Dallas Cowboys.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar made the announcement while speaking with Maverick Carter on Instagram Live on Thursday, claiming Cowboys owner Jerry Jones requiring that his team’s players stand for the national anthem four years ago was the last straw.
“There was just a lot of things that was going on during when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech,” James said. “They wanted to do it in a very peaceful manner. A lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ And I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”
In 2017, Cowboys owner Jerry Jones famously told his player they would stand for the Anthem or they wouldn’t play football.
Colin Kaepernick first knelt during the national anthem in 2016 to protest racial injustice, police brutality against Black people and systematic oppression.
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The Cowboys knelt before the anthem in 2017 in a show of solidarity, but it happened before the Anthem.
“I know this, we cannot … in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,” Jones said at the time. “We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag. So we’re clear.
“There is no room here if it comes between looking non-supportive of our players and of each other or creating the impression that you’re disrespecting the flag, we will be non-supportive of each other,” Jones added. “We will not disrespect the flag.”
On the court, the Lakers are 0-4 and in dead last place in the Western Conference.
