Palestine
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As Israel is in the midst of conflict with the terrorist group Hamas in the Gaza region, LeBron James expressed support via social media which drew a lot of mixed reactions and plenty of disapproval.On Wednesday night (October 11), LeBron James posted a statement to X, formerly known as Twitter, addressing the current turmoil in Israel after the southern region including the Gaza Strip suffered an attack from members of the militant Hamas organization. James began, “The devastation in Israel is tragic and unacceptable.”
“The murder and violence against innocent people by Hamas is terrorism,” the post continued. “The SpringHill Company family sends our deepest condolences to Israel and the Jewish community. We pray for peace in the region and reiterate our continued commitment to fight hate in all its forms. We all must work to ensure this tragedy does not spread even more hate, racism, and antisemitism.” The statement was also co-signed by James’ business partner, Maverick Carter.
The Los Angeles Lakers forward’s statement is one of a series of releases by noted celebrities who have expressed similar sentiments about the conflict in the region which is now in its fifth day after Hamas members killed and kidnapped Israelis in the region in a shock attack over the weekend.
To date, Over 1,200 Israelis have reportedly been killed with close to 2,700 injured while in Gaza, it is estimated that 900 Palestinians have been killed along with 5,000 that were injured. It has increased divisions between those who believe the Israeli government to be too brutal in attacking innocent Palestinians in Gaza, and those who try to conflate the support of the Palestinian people with the support of Hamas.
James’ statement was met with dismay by quite a few users on X, who feel he made that statement to placate right-wing individuals. Others flatly accused him of “selling out” by not even mentioning the Palestinian people in the statement.
And tangentially, of course, many took the opportunity to crack jokes against LeBron James, saying he will never be a better player than Chicago Bulls guard and NBA Hall of Famer Michael Jordan.
Keep scrolling to see the reactions from X below.
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Photo: George Pimentel / Getty
1. Kordeli
This X user simply said, “NO LEBRON NOOOO” in response to the statement.
2. Captain MB
A meme featuring Lightning McQueen from “Cars” spinning out of control comes into play to express this user’s disappointment.
4. A Bro Next Door
A meme satirizing LeBron’s penchant for being pictured reading a book.
5. Kanki
One user replied to James with a tweet commenting on the way Palestinians are depicted as opposed to Israeli when violence comes into play.
6. Maor Melikson
This user was one of the lone voices fully supporting LeBron’s statement – with one caveat.
7. StaticMMIV
This X user queried out loud if celebrities were to be censured if they didn’t put out a statement of support for Israel.
8. Blue_999
A comparison of LeBron James losing his hair to the land lost by Palestinians since 1948 in Israel.
9. Mr.
“See what the man you pretend to read says and you didn’t go beyond the first page just for the sake of photographing!”, this user wrote.
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Mia Khalifa caused a storm of controversy over the weekend after expressing support for Hamas and Palestine amidst the war situation happening in the region. As a result, Mia Khalifa lost her business arrangement with Playboy and an endorsement deal due to her support of Hamas.
On Monday (October 9), Playboy, which now operates as a subscription-based digital platform, sent out an email to its users stating that Mia Khalifa, real name Sarah Joe Chamoun, will no longer share content across its network.
“We are writing today to let you know of our decision to terminate Playboy’s relationship with Mia Khalifa, including deleting Mia’s Playboy channel on our creator platform,” the email said, as reported by Daily Mail.
Khalifa, 30, has been actively sharing replies on X, formerly Twitter, regarding the situation between Israel and Hamas. For those unaware, Hamas is a Palestinian Sunni Islamist militant group that was founded in 1987 and is considered a terrorist organization by the United States and the European Union.
Taking to X, Khalifa wrote, “Can someone please tell the freedom fighters in Palestine to flip their phones and film horizontal” in one reply. In another, she wrote, “I can’t believe the Zionist apartheid regime is being brought down by guerrilla fighters in fake Gucci shirts – the biopics of these moments better reflect that.”
After Hamas gunmen attacked the Supernova Festival this past weekend and left over 260 dead, images from that incident and accounts from survivors made their way to social media. Again, Khalifa showed support for the actions, depicting one such image of Hamas as a “resistance painting” but that X reply no longer exists.
Beyond Playboy, Khalifa also lost an advisor deal with Red Light Holland, a company that produces “magic mushrooms” in the Netherlands and also entered into business with Wiz Khalifa via the Mistercap brand owned by the former adult star. The CEO of Red Light Holland, Todd Shapiro, fired Khalifa online and she screencapped the exchange with her own X quote reply that we’ve posted below.
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Photo: Edward Berthelot / Getty