LeBron James latest to leave social media: How world of sport is uniting against ‘hate speech’

NBA's Los Angeles Lakers player LeBron James on Thursday became the latest to take a break from social media citing "hate" and "negative takes". LeBron shared a post of Rich Kleiman, the agent of NBA star Kevin Durant, who criticised the sports media for spreading "hate and negativity".

“With so much hate and negativity in the world today, it confuses me why some of the national sports media still think that the best way to cover sports is through negative takes,” Kleiman posted on "X". “We can all acknowledge that sports is the last part of society that universally brings people together. So why can't the coverage do the same? It's only clickbait when you say it. When the platform is so big, you can make the change and allow us all an escape from real-life negativity. I, for one, find it all a waste of breath."

"The Olympics and JJ and Bron's show was the future of what this can and should all be," he concluded. James responded to this message by saying "AMEN", and later said that he was taking a temporary break from social media. "And with that said I’ll holla at y’all! Getting off social media for the time being. Y’all take care," he said.

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Recently, German clubs Werder Bremen and FC St. Pauli had taken a similar route by announcing their decision to quite "X" over hate speech in the aftermath of Elon Musk acquiring the platform, formerly Twitter, in 2022.

Sports athletes and teams quitting "X" comes in the aftermath of new terms and conditions announced by the company recently, which reportedly allows users for their photos and videos be used on Grok for training purposes. Grok is an AI chatbot present within the X website and app. The updated terms and conditions were introduced on 15 November, and several users have reportedly raised concerns regarding the privacy of heir account.

Not the first time LeBron James has stayed away from social media

It is not the first time James has stepped away from social media. The record points scorer has taken breaks before, but usually to concentrate on his basketball.

James had hinted at disaffection with online criticism following the Lakers’ win over Utah on Tuesday when Los Angeles rookie Dalton Knecht erupted for 37 points.

Talking about Knecht’s performance, James said he had been aware of the rookie’s talent from watching his collegiate career at Tennessee.

“Everybody on the internet calls me a liar all the time,” James said.

“They say I lie about everything. So what am I now? I’ve been said it. I watched him. I watched Tennessee a lot,” he added.

With inputs from AFP