LeBron James has black privilege.
He plays in the NBA, a league that is dominated by black players and that is clearly unfair and unequal to white players.
LeBron James has straight privilege.
He’s not gay or transgender, so is not as discriminated against for his sexuality.
LeBron James has height privilege.
He’s 6 feet, 9 inches, dwarfing guys like poor little Steph Curry (6-2).
And LeBron James has handsome privilege.
He’s a good-looking dude. Imagine how aesthetically inferior Boban Marjanović feels when he stands on a court next to him.
So, for all these reasons, it’s obvious that the only reason LeBron James is the most commercially successful player in the NBA is because of all his privilege!
That’s why firms like Nike, Beats By Dre and PepsiCo have all chucked gazillions of dollars at him.
Right?
Wrong.
The reason LeBron James is the biggest star in basketball is because he’s a generationally sensational player who is now the highest scorer in NBA history.
That’s it.
If he wasn’t as great at basketball as he is, nobody would give a damn about him and none of his supposed privilege would even matter.
It’s LeBron’s talent, not his skin color, sexuality, height or physical appearance that makes him an American sporting icon.
Which brings me to Caitlin Clark, another generational basketball talent with extraordinary ability who has been subjected to a vile onslaught of seething resentment, jealousy and absurd allegations of “privilege” that have dogged her move into the WNBA.
You might think that Clark would be lauded for the incredible, rocket-fueled impact she’s had on a sport that was an irrelevant shadow of the men’s game until she came along.
As tennis legend Martina Navratilova put it: “The players in the WNBA need to realize that Caitlin Clark is helping all of them, now and in the long run. Caitlin is the tide that will raise all boats!”
Of course.
But you’d never guess that from the pathetic attacks, verbal and physical, Clark has had to endure in recent weeks.
The fury fuse was lit by race-baiting former ESPN presenter Jemele Hill, who accused the media of over-hyping Clark simply because she’s white and straight, telling the LA Times: “We would all be very naive if we didn’t say race and her sexuality played a role in her popularity … there is a part of it that is a little problematic because of what it says about the worth and the marketability of the players who are already there … black women are often erased from the picture.”
Really, Jemele?
Did you find it equally “problematic” when Tiger Woods suddenly electrified golf and sucked all the media and commercial attention from white players?
Maybe, as with Tiger, it’s just because Caitlin Clark is a genuine superstar, both in her natural ability and the thrilling way she plays the game.
She didn’t just break records in college, she obliterated them, scoring the most points by any college player — man or woman — in NCAA history.
Clark was the first Division I player to record over 3,800 points, over 1,000 assists and over 950 rebounds in a career. Her average of 28.4 points per game and 538 made 3-pointers are both women’s NCAA Division I all-time highs.
And Clark also smashed records for TV audiences.
The 2024 NCAA Championship between Iowa and South Carolina got 18.7 million viewers, the most ever for a women’s basketball game.
None of that had anything to do with her race or sexuality, and everything to do with her supreme talent.
“The View” co-host Sunny Hostin further fueled the fire by sneering about Clark: “I do think that there is a thing called pretty privilege. There is a thing called white privilege. There is a thing called tall privilege, and we have to acknowledge that.”
Do we, Sunny?
Why can’t we just acknowledge that Caitlin Clark is a brilliant basketball player?
Predictably, all this media sniping was followed by an instant on-court response.
On Saturday, Chicago Sky player Chennedy Carter deliberately body-checked Clark after screaming, “You bitch!” at her.
Carter was congratulated for her violence by jubilant teammate Angel Reese, and remained unrepentant afterward, snarling proudly and accurately: “I classify myself as a dawg.”
I have no idea if Carter was motivated to do what she did because she bought into the whole over-hyped white, straight, height-privileged nonsense about her target, though it’s highly likely given what an envious, attention-seeking “dawg” Carter appears to be.
But I do know that the only person who seemed totally unbothered by it was Caitlin Clark, who simply said: “I grew up playing basketball with the boys. It’s always been physical and feisty, and you have to find a way to hold your own.”
What a great way to deal with all the “mean girls” garbage being hurled at her.
As LeBron James said on X: “If you don’t rock with Caitlin Clark game you’re just a FLAT OUT HATER!!!!! I’m rooting for Caitlin because I’ve been in that seat before … there’s a very small number of men and women that actually get to live out their dream of playing the professional sport, and we have grown ass men and women out here doing whatever they can to make sure that doesn’t happen … I’m glad that Caitlin has a great head on her shoulders.”
Me too.
But what Clark really needs is for someone like LeBron to have her back on court too, and that’s given me an idea.
President Biden is very keen to allow biological males to compete in women’s sport.
So the obvious solution is for LeBron to identify as a woman, join the Indiana Fever and become Caitlin Clark’s protective enforcer.
Now THAT would be a privilege to watch!
NEWS CREDIT
