I'm Rachel Nichols, still joined by today ago.

McKay, Zach Lowe and I want to get to LeBron James guys who was once again using his more than a vote platform to team up with the NBA to fight voter suppression this time during All Star weekend.

And this isn't just fighting voter suppression in some general way.

This is so crucial right now because lawmakers in Georgia and 42 other states are considering more than 250 measures that would create impediments to American citizens exercising their right to vote.

I was gonna say that again.

250 new regulations across 43 states, including Georgia, where the All Star Game is going to be held to try to make it harder for Americans to vote.

So the NBA LeBron James more than a vote.

You're going to hear a lot about that during All Star weekend.

Now there is an athlete who has taken issue with LeBron's off court activism.

Soccer star Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who essentially told LeBron to stick to sports now LeBron responded over the weekend.

We've given a chance to clarify his statements on LeBron though it's Latin doubled down here is what he said.

Quote.

Politics divides the world.

Sports United football unites athletes wherever we do, wherever whatever we do to unite this was my message.

Athletes should be athletes and politicians should do politics.

China.

I'm just going to cede the floor to you.

What is your reaction here?

As I gather myself, it always gives me pause when people speak on situations without walking in the other person's shoes.

And I know LeBron James shoes are really large, but he deals with a lot of pressure, and he has done a great job navigating that over the entirety of his career.

And we all know that LeBron is all about elevating and using his platform to advocate for underserved communities.

I mean, athletes without question are at the intersection of sports and society, and athletes are expected to now use their platforms for good because we understand that our success is the exception and not the norm.

So we have to really hold it down for those who look like us and who we represent.

And there are very few athletes that have a bigger platform than LeBron, and he has seized the opportunity that he has earned to educate and empower, You know, his own community, whether it's in Akron, Ohio, or Los Angeles or anywhere in between.

And I know this personally as you mentioned Rachel as a member of the more than a vote coalition.

And so when I heard lots on say that, I just wondered if he has seen the amount of good that LeBron James has done when he uses his platform instead of more so the negative things that could actually be the things that are politicized.

First of all, congratulations is a lot of time because by saying this, all he's doing is amplifying LeBron's voice even more every time he brings this up.

It's just gonna put more of a focus on LeBron given more of a platform.

And, yeah, we put microphones in these athletes faces 23 times a day.

I hope they talk about stuff that they're passionate about and they're interested in because we can only talk about basketball so much.

It's basketball that's thrown around, ball through around who talk about the stuff that actually matters, and we just saw the w N B A.

The W N.

B A.

Helped change the course of history in Georgia.

It's not just sort of speaking for the sake of speaking and getting your words out there.

They just changed the course of history in Georgia, and I can't think of anything that should be less controversial, less of a unifying topic to talk about than people should be able to vote.

So keep speaking on and keep talking about it.

It's lockdown wants to keep criticizing it.

He should keep criticizing, because all it does is make LeBron's voice even louder.

It's also just so hypocritical to me.

We ask athletes to be involved in their communities all the time and the previous segment.

We just talked about James Harden being involved in relief for the people of Houston after the storms and electrical outages they have had their J.

J.

Watt, also in Houston.

Four years, has done all kinds of relief efforts after the hurricane, Of course, so famously, we're asking athletes all the time go to elementary schools and talk to the kids, be involved in making the community around you better.

Well, that doesn't just stop when it comes to causes you agree with like what happens in the climate out there.

It comes to everything.

And if people believe that the safety of their community depends on whether it's voting rights or gun safety or any of the other issues that these athletes are asked about, they should absolutely be involved, just like they're involved in all the other things that we want them to do.

So I was really happy to see LeBron clap back and to your point.

Zach, every times Latin collapse right back.

All he does is elevate the platform.

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