L.A. Lakers star LeBron James recently claimed he was unaware that “Jewish money” was an ages-old, anti-Semitic stereotype, but New York Post columnist Phil Mushnick is not prepared to let James off the hook for his “non-apology.”
Last week the NBA star posted on social media about a song he was listening to that contained a lyric about “making Jewish money.” The Lakers forward quickly came under fire for celebrating the decades-old stereotype that claims all Jews care about is money. James apologized but insisted he had no idea what the phrase meant.
The Lakers’ apology did not wash with Post sports columnist Phil Mushnick who, in a December 29 column, slammed James for his anti-Semitic “bigotry.”
Mushnick did not accept James’ apology for using the slur, saying: “James’ non-apology apology — another of those contingency “If” numbers — was bereft of now-I-get-it contrition.”
Indeed, Mushnick used his space not only to criticize James, but to slam black leadership in America, raise the alarm at the growing anti-Semitism that the media steadily ignores, blame black culture for the problems, and even slap at the Philadelphia Phillies for signing a player who once assaulted someone for being a Jew.
First, Mushnick relayed James’ non-apology:
Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone. That’s not why I chose to share that lyric. I always [post lyrics]. That’s what I do. I ride in my car, I listen to great music, and that was the byproduct of it. So, I actually thought it was a compliment, and obviously it wasn’t through the lens of a lot of people. My apologies. It definitely was not the intent, obviously, to hurt anybody.
“Offended?” Mushnick countered. “As a Jew, I’m more offended by such a dismissive, no-hard-feelings alibi.”
The columnist went on to slam those race hustlers who have also indulged anti-Semitic behavior.
As black America continues to be represented by race-hustling, media-empowered charlatans such as Louis Farrakhan (“Jews are bloodsuckers”) and wink and nod anti-Semite and selectively outraged Rev. Al Sharpton, and, lest we forget, Rev. Jesse “Hymie Town” Jackson, I often wonder what young blacks are taught about Jews.
Mushnick wondered if these same Jew haters understood that “Jewish money” has gone to fund the NAACP, to help operate urban hospitals, helped support civil rights marches, and that two Jews were even murdered in Mississippi in the 1960s for supporting civil rights.
“Why are American blacks urged to resent Jews?” Mushnick asked incredulously. “For their prosperity? For their charity? For their centuries of refusal to be annihilated? For their emphasis on education and devotion to family?”
Mushnick also slammed black leaders for ignoring the flap over James’ anti-Semitic slur.
But the long-time columnist wasn’t done scolding James. He also punished the NBA star for his “preposterous historical ignorance by issuing that revolting, simple-minded and hideous analogy of the NFL with slavery.”
Mushnick was referring to James’ proclamation last week that the NFL treats its players like slaves and that the league’s owners have a “slave mentality.”
“Can he be that lost?” Mushnick said of James’ attack on the NFL’s expectation that players do what they are told in the workplace. “That’s the term of employment for all, the butcher, baker, and candlestick maker.”
Mushnick added:
To compare athletes making an average of $2.1 million for seasonal work to Antebellum whips-and-chains slaves is disgusting. NFL “slaves” have the one great freedom Southern slaves did not — the freedom to quit.
But, again, no big deal and James moves merrily along. He’s entitled as a basketball superstar and racial activist — even if he favors artists who sing “F**k N**ga Bitches.”
Mushnick ended his piece lamenting how black culture is “stuck in reverse by choice and habit, ‘not by white people,'” as blacks celebrate profane, women-hating rappers and ignore inner-city violence perpetrated on blacks, by blacks.
The columnist also slammed the Philadelphia Phillies for signing Delmon Young, “a black player who had assaulted a man in Manhattan because Young thought he was a Jew.”
“I could ignore it all, choose the path of least resistance and risk, silently pander to it,” Mushnick said with his exasperated but determined conclusion. “I could whistle while I work. But I wasn’t raised to ignore inequality.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston.
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