Kareem Abdul-Jabbar Shreds LeBron James Over Spider-Man Meme

Many Americans have expressed doubts about the scientific facts regarding the COVID-19 virus and pandemic. Professional athletes have been among them. Stars like Aaron Rodgers have used their influence to spread half-truths and downright lies about the dangers and severity of the disease.

LeBron James recently posted a meme on his Instagram that expressed his feelings. It was the classic Spider-Man cartoon scene where three Spideys point at one another. King James was hoping to find out the difference between more mild ailments and COVID.

NBA Legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar dug into James when he saw the post. He wrote an open letter to LeBron on his Substack blog. Kareem shared some cold, hard facts about the deadly plague.

“To directly address LeBron’s confusion, no one thinks colds and the flu aren’t serious. In the 2019-2020 flu season, 400,000 people were hospitalized and 22,000 people died. In 2020, 385,428 people died of COVID-19, while so far in 2021, 423,558 have died in the U.S., for a total of 808,986 deaths. Experts agree that COVID-19 is at least 10 times more lethal than the flu. As for the common cold, death is extremely rare.

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However, LeBron James, if you’re concerned about the flu, then help promote the flu vaccination. In the 2019-2020 flu season, only 51.8% in the U.S. were vaccinated, well below the 70% that is the target. Worse, the vaccination rate is 20% lower among Blacks than whites and as a result they have the highest hospitalization rate due to flu of any other group. This is due to vaccination hesitancy that your meme promotes.”

LeBron James may just be frustrated with the whole situation. NBA teams have had to scramble to find replacement players for those who have positive virus tests. The Lakers have been negatively affected. He is justified in his frustration. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar just thinks he needs to choose his words more wisely.

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