“I’m an equal opportunity critic for the Left on topics on which they know little,” Laura Ingraham said Friday night on “The Ingraham Angle,” her Fox News show.
She was commenting about the left-wing backlash to her earlier comments about NBA superstar LeBron James. “Race had nothing to do with it.”
Ingraham triggered liberals on Thursday night when she said that LeBron James of the Cleveland Cavaliers should “shut up and dribble” instead of making inflammatory comments about President Donald Trump. Of course, she was reprising and repurposing the title of her own book from years earlier, “Shut Up and Sing: How Elites from Hollywood, Politics and the Media Are Subverting America,” which called out left-leaning celebrities of all types.
However, the media on the Left didn’t take this criticism of James sitting down: The Washington Post and The New York Times criticizing the Fox News host. Slate said Ingraham’s comments were “racist” and Kevin Durant told USA Today that he believed the same thing; Philadelphia Eagles defensive end Chris Long, who plans to skip the Eagles White House visit, and Miami Heat shooting guard Dwyane Wade were also unhappy with the comments on Twitter. All of this indicates the sensitivity of the Left when they are called out.
Former NFL safety Burgess Owens weighed in on the debate Friday night on “The Ingraham Angle,” saying the Left has overreacted.
“This is a new norm for the Left,” Owens said. “When white conservatives call out black liberals for their ignorance, they’re called racist. But if white liberals call out black conservatives, they’re called enlightened. These people are bullies and they want to be leaders … These elites think they know everything, but they don’t. They’re entertainers, that’s it.”
Niger Innis, spokesman for the Congress of Racial Equality, also did not see a problem with Ingraham’s initial critiques of James. After all, it was James who said that President Donald Trump did not “give a f***” about Americans — and LeBron also campaigned for Hillary Clinton in Ohio during the 2016 presidential election cycle.
Innis also did not think it was productive for Durant to complain about Ingraham’s reaction to James’ comments.
“The worst thing Durant can do is play the victim to big bad Laura Ingraham,” Innis said.
Ingraham also pointed out the media’s double standard when it comes to holding people accountable for their actions.
“If you’re a white NBA player and you said that stuff about Obama, you’d never play again.”
“If you’re a white NBA player and you said that stuff about Obama, you’d never play again,” Ingraham noted.
The Left seems to have no problem at all when people they agree with speak out on politics — but the minute anyone disagrees with them, wow, are they quick to throw out the racist or sexist card when it is absolutely not warranted.
Update: On Saturday afternoon, when LeBron James appeared at a press conference ahead of the 2018 NBA All-Star Game this weekend and was asked about Laura Ingraham, he pretended not to know her. He also said he was more than an athlete.
Tom Joyce is a freelance writer from the South Shore of Massachusetts. He covers sports, pop culture, and politics and has contributed to The Federalist, Newsday, ESPN, and other outlets.
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