Multibillion-dollar shoe conglomerate Nike has found itself in some hot water as its viral LeBron James tribute video has been accused of appropriating Christianity.
On Tuesday, James and his Los Angeles Lakers lost to the Oklahoma City Thunder 133-130. But en route to that loss, James eclipsed Kareem Abdul-Jabbar to become the NBA’s all-time leading scorer.
Regardless of where you fall on the Michael Jordan versus LeBron James debate, even James’ harshest critics would have to admit that that’s an impressive feat.
Obviously, such an accomplishment required celebration, and there was celebrating aplenty when the NBA stopped play for 10 minutes to congratulate James. The celebration featured a little bit of everything, from fans booing Joe Biden to James’ expletive-laden speech.
Nike, obviously wanting to get in on the festivities, produced a tribute video that went viral all across social media (it sits at 2.7 million views on Twitter as of this writing) — but it also raised a few eyebrows in the process.
First, the video, which you can check out for yourself below:
20 years later, we are who we’ve always been – Witnesses to @KingJames never-ending greatness. ? #WitnessGreatness pic.twitter.com/QP9nY8RfZD
— Nike (@Nike) February 8, 2023
“20 years later, we are who we’ve always been – Witnesses to [James’] never-ending greatness,” Nike said in the caption to the video on Twitter.
As for the video itself, that’s where the consternation came in. Many felt it was an affront to Christianity, as it repurposes what sounds like a sermon about Jesus — complete with gospel music in the background and responses from the audience — to be about James. Indeed, it’s hard to dispute the strong Christian undertones.
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