Darren Richman
Jul 18, 2022
Indy
Lebron James did not mince his words when asked which city he really doesn’t enjoy playing in, labelling Boston fans “racist as f***”.
This comes as something of a surprising answer from the basketball great given he joined the Fenway Sport Group in 2021 as a partner and thus is a part-owner of the Boston Red Sox. The host of The Shop, Paul Rivera, pushed the superstar to explain his dislike for Boston and the response was unequivocal:
“Cos they racist as f***, that’s why. They will say anything ... and it’s fine, it’s my life. I mean it’s s*** I’ve been dealing with my whole life.”
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The Los Angeles Lakers legend went on to explain that he’s had a beer thrown over him after a game in the city while some fans have attempted to put him off his game by wearing shirts emblazoned with the message, “F*** LBJ”.
James is not the first sportsman to speak out about some of the attitudes displayed by the more ignorant members of the Celtics fanbase. The Celtics’ own guard Marcus Smart has said:
“I’ve heard a couple of them. It’s kind of sad and sickening. Even though it’s an opposing team, we have guys on your home team that you’re saying these racial slurs and expect to go out and play for you. It’s tough. We just want everyone to be respectful.”
His teammate, Jaylen Brown, is on record as saying:
“I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist. We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colours, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question.”
Unquestionably. And hopefully that work will be done sooner rather than later.
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