Laura Ingraham might need to review some of her old game film.
In response to LeBron James criticizing President Donald Trump in 2018, the Fox News right-wing commentator infamously told him and his fellow NBA superstar, Kevin Durant, to “shut up and dribble” and “keep the political commentary to yourself.”
On Wednesday night, it was a different story when talking about another pro athlete, white NFL quarterback Drew Brees.
Earlier Wednesday, Brees waded into the politics of protest in comments to Yahoo. After being asked about NFL players possibly kneeling again during the national anthem, a gesture former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick had started a few years ago to protest police brutality, Brees said he would “never agree with anybody disrespecting the flag.”
The comments drew widespread criticism on social media, including from several of Brees’ New Orleans Saints teammates. (He has since apologized.)
But Ingraham’s take was that people need to respect Brees’ political opinions.
“Well, he’s allowed to have his view about what kneeling and the flag means to him,” Ingraham said of the QB. “I mean, he’s a person. He has some worth I would imagine. I mean, this is beyond football though. This is totalitarian conduct. This is Stalinist. And by the way, on the streets of New Orleans — we’re looking at live pictures — they’re shouting, ‘F Drew Brees.’”
So, looking back at Ingraham’s instant replay, James needed to “shut up and dribble,” but criticizing Brees is “Stalinist.” Got it.
The wildly different comments went viral after being put side by side on Twitter. As you can see, for some reason, they’re as contrasting as ... black and white.
LeBron James tweeted his response to the video comparison:
On Friday’s show, Ingraham responded to what she called the “online chorus” of critics comparing her comments on Brees to her previous criticism of James.
“Without dwelling on the nuance between the two instances, let me be very clear about what I believe: We are all children of God, regardless of our racial or political differences and therefore must be treated equally,” she said.