So anyway, I'm sitting here watching SNL thinking I'd check it out since it's LeBron James' first time on the show, and the first time an athlete has hosted the show in a bit.
Now, is it me or did anybody else notice the blatant stereotypical depiction of the black male athlete in each and every skit LeBron James was in?
What? You missed the show? Let me run it down for you.
Looks like croneys over at Saturday Night Live made a very concerted effort to depict this brother in a negative light when they put LeBron in the following skits.
Skit #1 - LeBron James was being auctioned. Patrons of the auction were to bid for an evening, or whatever, with LeBron James to raise money for some made up charity. This was the skit that caused my 'Uh, oh. Here we go again' antennaes to stand at attention. Millions of African slaves were auctioned in every state in this country from 1864 to whenever you think slavery in this country ended. In my opinion, Saturday Night Live had LeBron James on the auction block with that ridiculous skit.
Then there was the near-naked white woman offering herself to LeBron as she sang “you can sleep with me.”
Yeah, that's how the show went down, and it got worse.
Skit#2 – LeBron does an NBA 'Read to Achieve' commercial. He gets ragged on about making too much money for “catching a ball”. Is this not typical of people jealous of the salaries of African American male athletes?
Does anyone say sports franchises make too much money off the athletes, whom without, there would be no NBA, NFL, or MLB?
Skit#3 – I’ve not watched SNL in a long while, but apparently there’s a segment called ‘The Kyle Lane Show’. To me, it looks like the host of the show is a bit mentally challenged. Guess what? LeBron plays a mentally challenged guest on the show, which to me, ties into the ‘dumb athlete’ stereotype. Not only that, the skit has a sign that reads ‘Cotton Club’ in the background. Now, the Cotton Club was a night club in Harlem where the hottest jazz artists of the time performed amazing jazz sets, but somehow I don't think SNL meant it that way at all.
Skit #4 - LeBron is talking with his high school coach in his office about leaving school to pursue an NBA career. The coach appears to be discouraging him from doing so saying, “I went to college for four years, and I don’t have a million dollars.“
"I drive a ’93 Corolla, and when I drive over 50 miles an hour, the glove box falls open.”
Well coach, duh. If you had what it takes to be in the NBA and make a million dollars, I'm sure you wouldn't turn it down.
Again, more of the ‘athletes are paid too much’ syndrome (which, when translated means, I'm a jealous player hater).
In closing this blog entry I’m reminiscent of a sports writer who was called out for misspelling the name of an athlete who has about 18 letters in his last name.
The writer was told by the team's media department, “we want the best representation when people read about our players, and our team.” Making the inference that the misspelled last name was not properly representing the player.
When I looked at those SNL skits, I didn’t see best representation of the player at all, but rather a total stereotype.
Isn’t it odd that the misspelling of an athlete’s last name (that was actually verified from the team’s web site) is seen as misrepresentation of an athlete, but a TV show seen by millions depicting the African American athlete as nothing more than over paid, unintelligent, womanizer, isn’t?
LeBron, in his stellar NBA career, has been called, ‘'King of the Court’ and King James.
Absolutely nowhere in LeBron's SNL debut was LeBron even close to being depicted or portrayed as a king.
You mean to tell me that the writers over at SNL couldn't write a skit that even came close to having LeBron play a king?
Hey SNL, is this how you treat a king?
But you know what? I'm a fair person. So, in all fairness to Saturday Night Live, and LeBron James I'll say maybe LeBron wanted to do those skits in that fashion. Maybe LeBron said to his Agent, and Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live, “Hey, I really want to be depicted this way on national TV.”
Yeah, right.
Now, is it me or did anybody else notice the blatant stereotypical depiction of the black male athlete in each and every skit LeBron James was in?
What? You missed the show? Let me run it down for you.
Looks like croneys over at Saturday Night Live made a very concerted effort to depict this brother in a negative light when they put LeBron in the following skits.
Skit #1 - LeBron James was being auctioned. Patrons of the auction were to bid for an evening, or whatever, with LeBron James to raise money for some made up charity. This was the skit that caused my 'Uh, oh. Here we go again' antennaes to stand at attention. Millions of African slaves were auctioned in every state in this country from 1864 to whenever you think slavery in this country ended. In my opinion, Saturday Night Live had LeBron James on the auction block with that ridiculous skit.
Then there was the near-naked white woman offering herself to LeBron as she sang “you can sleep with me.”
Yeah, that's how the show went down, and it got worse.
Skit#2 – LeBron does an NBA 'Read to Achieve' commercial. He gets ragged on about making too much money for “catching a ball”. Is this not typical of people jealous of the salaries of African American male athletes?
Does anyone say sports franchises make too much money off the athletes, whom without, there would be no NBA, NFL, or MLB?
Skit#3 – I’ve not watched SNL in a long while, but apparently there’s a segment called ‘The Kyle Lane Show’. To me, it looks like the host of the show is a bit mentally challenged. Guess what? LeBron plays a mentally challenged guest on the show, which to me, ties into the ‘dumb athlete’ stereotype. Not only that, the skit has a sign that reads ‘Cotton Club’ in the background. Now, the Cotton Club was a night club in Harlem where the hottest jazz artists of the time performed amazing jazz sets, but somehow I don't think SNL meant it that way at all.
Skit #4 - LeBron is talking with his high school coach in his office about leaving school to pursue an NBA career. The coach appears to be discouraging him from doing so saying, “I went to college for four years, and I don’t have a million dollars.“
"I drive a ’93 Corolla, and when I drive over 50 miles an hour, the glove box falls open.”
Well coach, duh. If you had what it takes to be in the NBA and make a million dollars, I'm sure you wouldn't turn it down.
Again, more of the ‘athletes are paid too much’ syndrome (which, when translated means, I'm a jealous player hater).
In closing this blog entry I’m reminiscent of a sports writer who was called out for misspelling the name of an athlete who has about 18 letters in his last name.
The writer was told by the team's media department, “we want the best representation when people read about our players, and our team.” Making the inference that the misspelled last name was not properly representing the player.
When I looked at those SNL skits, I didn’t see best representation of the player at all, but rather a total stereotype.
Isn’t it odd that the misspelling of an athlete’s last name (that was actually verified from the team’s web site) is seen as misrepresentation of an athlete, but a TV show seen by millions depicting the African American athlete as nothing more than over paid, unintelligent, womanizer, isn’t?
LeBron, in his stellar NBA career, has been called, ‘'King of the Court’ and King James.
Absolutely nowhere in LeBron's SNL debut was LeBron even close to being depicted or portrayed as a king.
You mean to tell me that the writers over at SNL couldn't write a skit that even came close to having LeBron play a king?
Hey SNL, is this how you treat a king?
But you know what? I'm a fair person. So, in all fairness to Saturday Night Live, and LeBron James I'll say maybe LeBron wanted to do those skits in that fashion. Maybe LeBron said to his Agent, and Lorne Michaels of Saturday Night Live, “Hey, I really want to be depicted this way on national TV.”
Yeah, right.
Comments
There have been many talanted athletes and many dignified actors appear on SNL who have participated in skits that are silly and completely out of character. It's all in fun!