The day after LeBron James announced his decision to head to Miami, Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert issued a letter to Cleveland fans trashing James and promising to bring the town a title before James gets one. Today, Jesse Jackson criticized Gilbert for viewing James as a “runaway slave” and called the owner’s comments “mean, arrogant and presumptuous.”
“He speaks as an owner of LeBron and not the owner of the Cleveland Cavaliers,” Jackson said in a press release. “His feelings of betrayal personify a slave master mentality. He sees LeBron as a runaway slave. This is an owner employee relationship — between business partners — and LeBron honored his contract.”
Jackson went on to say that Gilbert’s comments are an attack on all NBA players, and that he should face a “challenge” from the league. Strangely, Jackson did not mention Gilbert’s egregious font selection in his critique.
Jesse Jackson criticizes Dan Gilbert’s LeBron comments [AP via USAT]
