Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James couldn’t help gloating on Twitter after Nike’s shares hit an all-time high in the wake of the company’s ad campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick.
Nike stocks closed at $83.47 Thursday for the first time ever just eight days after President Donald Trump declared that the company was “getting absolutely killed” because of “anger and boycotts” over its ad campaign. On Friday, shares closed in regular trading at $83.49, although the stock price slipped a bit in after-hours trading.
The ad honors the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback and the movement he launched by taking a knee during the national anthem before NFL games to protest racial injustice.
“Well I mean I guess WE’RE on [fire],” gushed James, adding the hashtag ”#JokesOnYou.” James, who has signed a lifelong contract with Nike, also appears in the ad campaign.
Nike’s online sales also jumped nearly a third as the ad was launched.
Trump has long railed at the athletes and the National Football League, calling on owners to fire players who don’t stand for the anthem. (In a CNBC interview Thursday, new Carolina Panthers owner David Tepper called attacks on “patriotic” protesting players the “biggest pile of bull-dinky.”)
Trump is also not a fan of James. The president denigrated the intelligence of the Lakers star and CNN host Don Lemon, who interviewed James last month, in a tweet that triggered outcries of racism against Trump. Lemon accused the president of “trafficking in racism.”
Kaepernick celebrated the Nike news by retweeting a Complex video about the sportswear company’s rising fortunes.
James’ Twitter followers loved his tweet.
LeBron got some other good news Friday. NBC is buying “Hoops,” a TV series about a female college basketball coach co-produced by James, Deadline reported.
