Whoopi Goldberg Blasts LeBron for Not Endorsing Covid Jab: At Least Say ‘Nobody Grew a Second Head or Tail’
90 percent of NBA players are vaccinated against Covid-19, including LeBron James. But Whoopi Goldberg is not happy with the way LeBron announced his vaccination status, preferring if he offered a stronger endorsement of the jab.
“Everyone has their own choice,” LeBron said this week. “I don’t talk about other people and what they should do.”
“It’s not your job to tell people what to do, but you can suggest that you figured out that nobody grew a second head or a tail when they got the shot,” Goldberg ranted Thursday morning on The View.
“If you don’t want to speak out, remember you said that because it’s gonna come back and bite you in the behind when you wanna talk about issues that are bothering you,” Goldberg added. “Just know that, people are gonna come back and say ‘well why are you talking now?’”
LeBron has been outspoken on numerous social and political issues throughout his 18-year NBA career, but the superstar doesn’t consider vaccination status a topic worth lecturing others on. “We’re not talking about something that’s political, or racism, or police brutality,” LeBron said, ignoring the social aspect of Black communities rejecting the jab.
“LeBron, whether you decide to talk about why you and your family got vaccinated,” Goldberg continued. “It’s important for you as an American citizen, for me as an American citizen, for all of us to do out part here?”
Trying to figure out why LeBron is so hesitant to preach the importance of getting vaccinated, The View co-host Anna Navarro cited employer mandates and theorized that he may have been jabbed by force “The Lakers said, our players are going to be vaccinated,” Navarro claimed. “It gave him no option, if he wanted to play and make the money.”
Navarro’s theory, however, is false. The Lakers, like every NBA team, can prefer and strongly recommend their players get vaccinated, but they have no ability to mandate it. If LeBron refused the vaccine, he would have been eligible to receive pay and play in every game for the Lakers this season.
While the NBA cannot mandate the vaccine, local laws can, which is why players from the Golden State Warriors, Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks cannot enter their home arenas without being inoculated against Covid. But Los Angeles has not yet joined San Francisco and New York in mandating the vaccine for indoor events, meaning LeBron took the shot by choice.
By not publicly touting the jab even though he’s vaccinated, we at least know that when LeBron speaks on a social or political issue, it’s one that he feels strongly about. For whatever reason, the topic of vaccines hasn’t moved the legendary NBA player yet.
Watch above via ABC
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