NBA won’t punish LeBron for ‘Jewish money’ IG
Chiney Ogwumike and Bobby Carpenter weigh in on LeBron James’ “Jewish Money” lyrical Instagram post after the Lakers star apologized for it. (1:28)
LOS ANGELES — LeBron James apologized Sunday for sharing lyrics on his Instagram account over the weekend that included the line, “getting that Jewish money.”
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“Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone,” James told ESPN following the Los Angeles Lakers‘ 107-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. “That’s not why I chose to share that lyric. I always [post lyrics]. That’s what I do. I ride in my car, I listen to great music, and that was the byproduct of it. So I actually thought it was a compliment, and obviously it wasn’t through the lens of a lot of people. My apologies. It definitely was not the intent, obviously, to hurt anybody.”
The league office has been in contact with James about the post and accepted his explanation that he made a mistake, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBA will take no action, the source said.
James was quoting the song “ASMR” by hip-hop artist 21 Savage and typed the lyrics, “We been getting that Jewish money, Everything is Kosher,” onto his Instagram stories as he rode as a passenger in a vehicle while wearing a purple Lakers sweatshirt Saturday afternoon.
The league office has been in contact with James about the post and accepted his explanation that he made a mistake, a league source tells ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. The NBA will take no action, according to the source.
James, who has 45.8 million Instagram followers, received some criticism online Sunday after sports business reporter Darren Rovell of The Action Network posted a screen grab from James’ Instagram story to his Twitter account, taking umbrage with James’ judgment.
While James said he interpreted the lyric as touting a strength of the Jewish business community, there is a long-standing stereotype linking Jewish people’s priorities to money and material goods that the lyrics gloss over.
“Historically, Jewish materialism was used by anti-Semites seeking to demean the value of Judaism,” Yale professor Eliyahu Stern told the Times of Israel in August. “It’s often been used as a way of delegitimizing Judaism’s spiritual and religious values by those who depict Judaism as a cover for hoarding, egoism and an expression of difference.”