Le Batard & Friends Presents: Shut Up & Dribble (feat. Jemele Hill & Cari Champion)
7/1/20261 hr
LeBron James didn't just become the most famous athlete on Earth — he became one of its most careful, and occasionally most explosive, political voices. In the most contentious episode of our LeBron series, Dan, Amin and Izzy trace the moments that turned a basketball player into a lightning rod:
The Trayvon Martin hoodie photo — and Dan's own take on it at the time, warts and all. The killing of Tamir Rice, and the "I Can't Breathe" shirt that, in the moment, didn't include his name. The ESPYs speech. The White House years, plural. The Bubble. And the legacy that's still being argued over, for better or worse.
With firsthand memories from Jemele Hill and Cari Champion, plus a LeBron teammate history conveniently forgot.
Homework for this episode:
• "Reaction to tragic killing shows growth of LeBron" (The Miami Herald, 2012)
• "Kevin Durant x LeBron James x Cari Champion" (Uninterrupted, 2018)
• "Trump Attacked Black Athletes — and Paid for It in the End" (The Atlantic, 2020)
• "LeBron James Doesn’t Talk About Politics Anymore" (New York, 2022)
Encouraged homework for next week's season finale:
• "There's Always This Year" by Hanif Abdurraqib (2025)
More from "The Step Back":
• Episode 1: The Chosen One (feat. Sonny Vaccaro)
• Episode 2: The Decision (feat. Jim Gray)
• Episode 3: I'm Coming Home (feat. Iman Shumpert)
• Episode 4: LeBron Inc. (feat. Pablo Torre)
• Don't miss an episode — subscribe here
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsSpeaker 1· Soundbite0:01
I'm tired of this man being celebrated. For what?
Izzy Gutierrez· Host0:04
This is The Step Back.
Dan Le Batard· Host0:06
James drives, steps back, puts up a three. And LeBron James from downtown.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist0:11
The Cleveland Cavaliers select LeBron James.
Izzy Gutierrez· Host0:15
LeBron, what's your decision?
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:16
I made a difficult decision, but I understood what my future was about. I believe our president is trying to divide us. My first response was, "You bum."
Izzy Gutierrez· Host0:24
Welcome to episode five, Shut Up and Dribble.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:29
Well, the climate is hot. The number-one job in America, the point of person, is someone who doesn't understand the people, and really don't give a fuck about the people. Let's use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves, explore these issues, speak up, use our influence, and renounce all violence.
Izzy Gutierrez· Host0:51
Amine, we've been doing some dramatic readings with you. This time, I kinda wanna do, like, a slam poetry reading. If you could, it's of the third-most retweeted tweet of all time.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist1:08
Really?
Izzy Gutierrez· Host1:09
Yes, and it comes from one @KingJames, September 23rd, 2017, at 11:18 AM.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist1:17
All right.
Dan Le Batard· Host1:18
[clears throat] Wow, that's five dollars.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist1:20
No, I, no, it's for dramatic effect.
Dan Le Batard· Host1:22
Okay.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist1:22
I'm about to do dramatic- But that, I'm, I- You're doing drama- ...
Dan Le Batard· Host1:24
okay.
Amin Elhassan· Panelist1:24
You clear your throat before you do dramatic re- Oh, okay.
Izzy Gutierrez· Host1:26
We also haven't established fines on this show yet- Yeah ... so give it a break.