Laura Ingraham issued a statement on Friday after receiving backlash for her personal and factually incorrect criticism of LeBron James.
The FOX News host responded to James and Kevin Durant criticizing President Trump by telling James to “shut up and dribble,” among other condescending remarks. She also said “must they run their mouths like that?” and incorrectly stated that James left high school a year early and gets paid $100 million a year.
Laura Ingraham says #LeBronJames should "shut up and dribble" and leave political comments to people who didn't leave high school a year early. pic.twitter.com/vwInOpZJZq
— Thomas Bishop (@bishopk0s) February 16, 2018
Here is the statement Ingraham issued on Friday:
“In 2003, I wrote a New York Times bestseller called ‘Shut Up & Sing,’ in which I criticized celebrities like the Dixie Chicks & Barbra Streisand who were trashing then-President George W. Bush. I have used a variation of that title for more than 15 years to respond to performers who sound off on politics. I’ve told Robert DeNiro to ‘Shut Up & Act,’ Jimmy Kimmel to ‘Shut Up & Make Us Laugh,’ and just this week told the San Antonio Spurs’ Gregg Popovich to ‘Shut up & Coach.’ If pro athletes and entertainers want to freelance as political pundits, then they should not be surprised when they’re called out for insulting politicians. There was no racial intent in my remarks – false, defamatory charges of racism are a transparent attempt to immunize entertainment and sports elites from scrutiny and criticism. Additionally, we stated on my show that these comments came from an ESPN podcast, which was not the case – the content was unaffiliated with ESPN.”
Ingraham is trying to defend her completely condescending remarks by saying, “Hey, this is just my gimmick. I do it about everybody.” Well, in this case, the remarks seem especially targeted. And it really doesn’t help that Ingraham wants anyone who disagrees with her to simply “shut up.”
