No one escapes the Covid-19.
Not even the NBA, which has seen more than a hundred players go through the “Covid protocol” put in place by the big league basketball this season.
“
This virus will not go away and we will have to learn to live with it,
” said NBA boss Adam Silver.
Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James surely agrees.
We can even wonder if he takes Covid-19 seriously.
On December 24, James shared an Instagram post that he quickly deleted.
We see a famous internet meme with the hero Spider-Man in triplicate, each character pointing the finger at the others.
Each corresponds to one of the following viruses: colds, flu and Covid-19.
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Tuesday evening, after the victory of the Lakers against Houston (132-123), LeBron James was invited to explain himself on the subject: "
If you saw the publication, concretely, you say to yourself:" Help me. " Help me understand. That's what we're trying to do with this pandemic.
In other words, James seems to have difficulty grasping the difference in symptoms and severity between the illnesses mentioned. “A
lot of people have forgotten the flu,” he
adds.
That stuff's still around, it's flu season. People forgot about the common cold. It's always there, especially with our children going to school. My daughter is in kindergarten, so a lot of these kids get colds and the flu.
"A little vague explanations that the Lakers player concludes by specifying that he has"
no answer to give
"to Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Because if James was invited to react, it is because in the meantime, the retired pivot of the prosecution had pinned him for his Instagram post.
"This calls into question the validity of this country's efforts to get vaccinated"
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar on meme shared by LeBron James
Via the Substack platform, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, six-time MVP and five-time NBA champion, recalled the status that LeBron James has: “He
is not only one of the greatest basketball players in history. He is committed as a leader of the African-American community in the fight against inequalities. But this meme he shared is a blow to his rich heritage.
Abdul-Jabbar, 74, then recalled the words of LeBron James last September who, if he confirmed to be vaccinated, refused to encourage people to do the same. "
The problem is that with 106 million subscribers on Instagram, such a publication
(the Spider-man meme, editor's note)
is automatically impacting on the political level, because it calls into question the validity of the efforts of this country to be vaccinated
”, denounces Abdul-Jabbar.
For Abdul-Jabbar, the Covid vaccine is also a matter of racism
The former player of the Milwaukee Bucks and the Los Angeles Lakers recalls that "
according to the CDC
(federal health agency in the United States, editor's note)
, the unvaccinated have 9 times more chances of being admitted to intensive care and 14 times more likely to die from Covid than the vaccinated
”. Abdul-Jabbar is also scandalized that LeBron James judged, in September, that "
it is not about racism, police violence or politics, but the bodies of individuals
". For the former pivot, "
it is indeed racism
". According to statistics from the National Library of Medicine, nearly 98 black people out of 100,000 die from Covid, while the figure varies between 40 and 65 people for the Latino, Asian and white communities."
The pandemic worsens inequalities linked to skin color, social class and access to health systems
, ”laments Abdul-Jabbar.
The best scorer in NBA history (38,387 points) concludes by listing statistics proving a much higher death rate from Covid-19 than from colds or flu.
"
However, LeBron, if you're worried about the flu, you can help promote the flu shot
," Abdul-Jabbar invites.
In 2019-20, only 51.8% of Americans were vaccinated, well below the target 70%.
Worse, the vaccination rate is 20% lower among blacks than among whites.
This is due to a reluctance your meme is promoting.
"To this long and detailed message, LeBron James had"
no answer
"to provide, by his own admission.
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