ESPN “First Take” moderator Molly Qerim said during a Monday debate between Stephen A. Smith and Max Kellerman that Fox News Channel’s Laura Ingraham telling Cleveland Cavaliers star LeBron James to “shut up and dribble” instead of criticizing President Donald Trump is the equivalent of James telling Ingraham to “shut up and stay in the kitchen.”
“I want to add one thing as a female on this show,” stated Qerim. “It’s also interesting times for women. I think the equivalent would be if [LeBron James] had said, ‘Shut up and stay in the kitchen.'”
Kellerman pushed back on Qerim’s comparison, but Smith defended her, saying her comment was “absolutely on the money.”
“The fact is there have been a plethora of Americans from the white community and beyond throughout history that felt an athlete’s job was to shut up and play, don’t speak on these other issues. A matter of fact, you had professional athletes including Dwayne Wade and others, you had Charles Barkley and Shaq and others alluding to this as well, you had reporters, primarily white, who wouldn’t even come up to the black athlete and ask them about issues permeating through our society because they didn’t want to hear about an athlete’s takes on these issues and they wanted them to quote-unquote stay in their place. So, when Molly says, ‘It would be the equivalent if LeBron had turned around and said that to Laura Ingraham,’ Molly is absolutely on the money,” Smith argued.
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