LeBron James’ track record of fighting for social justice and the Black community off the court is as strong as his on-court resume. He’s long used his platform to speak out against police brutality, racial injustice, and systemic racism that creates such inequity in America.

Unsurprisingly, he’s been very vocal this past week following the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police, which sparked nationwide protests that continue as people speak out against police brutality and the disproportionate targeting of the black people by police forces across the country. James has explained to Drew Brees why his anti-kneeling stance is one borne of privilege, as Brees citing his grandfather fighting in World War II ignores black veterans that returned to face racism and weren’t afforded the opportunities of their white counterparts.

When Fox News’ Laura Ingraham defended Brees’ right to have his own opinion, he took her to task for coining the term “shut up and dribble” in response to LeBron’s outspokenness on political and social issues in the past. Not long after that, LeBron posted a video made by his company, Uninterrupted, that explained in plain text why no athlete can “just stick to sports.”

It is a simple, yet powerful message, explaining why he and other athletes use their platform to speak up. It’s because white people have the privilege of compartmentalizing the issue and pushing it to the side, looking to sports for distractions from real world problems that may otherwise inconvenience them, even if not directly affecting the. Those sports are filled with black men and women who can’t ever push the issues of systemic racism aside, because it impacts their own lives, their families, friends, and communities every day.

While the NBA looks to a return to play plan, you can be sure that players will not simply return to the court forgetting what is happening right now in America. They will use that platform, where millions will want to tune in to watch sports return, to speak out and keep the message alive, as they should.

Current NBA players, ranging from veterans like LeBron James to youthful stars like Trae Young, are making their voices heard as protests in response to the killing of George Floyd continue across the country. With that as the backdrop, one of the more prominent voices on social and racial justice in the sports world, NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, visited with ESPN’s Rachel Nichols on The Jump during Thursday’s show and, in unsurprising fashion, provided unique insight on the current climate.

When prompted on whether 2020 could be a turning point in the United States of America, Abdul-Jabbar indicated that he believes that is already the case.

“It already has been a turning point, given what has happened with the coronavirus and all of this racial violence that we’ve become aware of,” Abdul-Jabbar said. “We have an opportunity now that it’s got everybody’s attention. We can do something now. We’ve got everybody concerned and aware that certain things aren’t right. We can do something now. We can find a way to hold bad cops accountable. We can find a way to make sure that everybody gets heard, everybody gets the opportunity to vote and have their voice heard politically. This is a good thing for our country. It’s not a bad thing, and I hope people get to understand that and support it.”

During the interview, Nichols referenced the faction that publicly cites peaceful protest as preferable, while players say that those people don’t condone that activity either, with Colin Kaepernick as an example.

“They don’t want the subject brought up at all,” Abdul-Jabbar indicated in response. “As far as they’re concerned, everything is fine. We can’t continue with that dynamic. Too many people have lost their lives. And it’s a downward force on everything that we’re trying to do in our country.”

Viewing athletes, especially those who are still active in their sports, as potential role models is not a new phenomenon. With that said, it has been encouraging to see many prominent stars using their voice in a productive way during this time, with Abdul-Jabbar also referencing the power that can have in motivating the next generation.

“I think these athletes, what they have to say is important,” he said. “Because they are the ones that the kids in their neighborhoods, the kids from their hometowns, they look up to them and they get inspiration from them and they find out about things through them. These people are icons in their communities and they make a difference. When kids see that their heroes are concerned about civil rights and human rights and just what’s going on in our country, they get it. It’s important.”

Though 2020 is not even half over at this juncture, the notion of the year as a “turning point” could be a pivotal one, especially if people across the country and the world do their part to promote reform.

“The way we make sure it continues is to speak about it,” said Abdul-Jabbar. “People need to make friends with people who don’t look like them. That will go a long way to eliminating all of this. And that’s because we’re all Americans. We’re all raised here and raised on certain values that are the best of any nation in the world. We’ve gotta live up to that.”

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The NBA’s Board of Governors approved a return to play plan that will send 22 teams to Orlando for a restart to the season, playing eight games each to seed the playoffs, which will be played in full with seven-game series throughout. The run-time for the season and playoffs will be July 31 to October 12 under the league’s plan, but most notably they offered a rough outline of the key dates for the offseason and next season.

The NBA Draft would commence on October 15, followed by free agency on October 18, but the real eye-opener was the idea to start training camp on November 10 and the regular season on December 1, which would leave teams that played in the Finals with under a month of rest before camp began. Given that most expected a start date around Christmas — or possibly in January — it was fairly stunning to see those dates floated out there.

Fans and media weren’t the only ones surprised by those dates, as NBPA president Michele Roberts was also taken aback and, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, it’s expected that the 2020-21 season start dates may be the focus of the most negotiation in the league’s plan.

Woj noted that all dates set in the league’s proposal were considered tentative, and it is important to remember that the union has to approve any return to play plan, which meant any victory laps taken today were premature. A call is expected to happen tomorrow involving the players’ association to discuss the proposal, and the very short offseason is likely to be heavily discussed. Whether the workaround is a shortened season next year — 70 games from Dec. 1 could put them with a late April finish to the regular season — extending next season deeper into the year and/or pushing the start date back to create a longer offseason this year, something seems likely to change before a plan is officially ratified.

When HBO Max launched last week, it was perhaps assumed the biggest draws would be Friends, its many DC movies, Rick and Morty or the many great HBO shows like The Sopranos and Game of Thrones. But one week in, there’s been a surprise winner: Looney Tunes and other kids shows are the most popular things on there, according to Bloomberg News.

This comes from a report by Parrot Analytics, which revealed that Looney Tunes Cartoons, the new incarnation of the classic IP, has proven the streamer’s top draw thus far. Second place went to The Not-Too-Late Show with Elmo, hosted by everyone’s favorite high-pitched-voiced Sesame Street staple.

Does this mean kids are doing the bulk of the watching? Not necessarily. Looney Tunes has always skewed broadly, appealing to children as well as adults (and not just to adults who watched them as kids). But it does suggest HBO Max — which was criticized by some for, if anything, having too much stuff from too many places, lacking a clear brand — may give Disney+ a run for its money as far as family friendly streamers go. Or perhaps, by having stuff for everyone, they’ll simply attract more subscribers.

Looney Tunes Cartoons is the umpteenth update of the brand, which has existed since in some form or another since 1930. About 200 of the classic era shorts, which played in front of movies up until the mid-1960s, are also available on the service, including such classics as Duck Amuck, The Rabbit of Seville, and One Froggy Evening. This newest iteration is divided into 10 episodes, each running about 12 minutes and featuring two shorts and a couple interstitials. They are also, perhaps surprisingly, quite good.

(Via Bloomberg News)

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Show your solidarity and eat well by supporting these black-owned eateries.

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“The images depicted here are very disturbing and are not in line with the high standards we hold our officers accountable for,” Long Beach Police Chief Robert Luna said.

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It’s time to literally put your money where your mouth is.

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Motivated by the Black Lives Matter protests sweeping the country, Terry Crews took to Twitter on Thursday to further apologize to Gabrielle Union for not having her back when she was fired from America’s Got Talent.

“If we are to move forward as a people we must do the work required to heal the relationships in our community first,” Crews wrote in a five-part thread as he sought to make amends after he denied seeing racism on the set of the NBC talent show. In fact, Crews said it was the most “it was the most diverse place I have ever been in my 20 years of entertainment,” according to Entertainment Weekly. After facing a backlash for not backing Union after she was the first to support his sexual harassment claims, Crews apologized although without saying Union’s name.

That incident occurred back in January, and it seems to have been weighing on Crews because, this time, he made it a point to specifically apologize to Union by her name while acknowledging his privilege in a “society that has sexism built in.”

It is in this light I want to make further amends with Black women, and in particular @itsgabrielleu,” Crews tweeted, “for not recognizing the privilege I have – especially in the workplace- and adding this fact to my earlier apology.”

You can read Crews’ full apology below:

Crews’ apology arrives on the heel of his continued championing for Black causes. The actor joined his Brooklyn Nine-Nine costars in donating $100,000 to the National Bail Fund, which has stepped up its work as protesters are being rounded up by police. Crews also stopped by CNN on Wednesday night where he spoke with Don Lemon about the murder of George Floyd.

During the quarantine, Crews has stayed busy helping causes like Guy Fieri’s Restaurant Employee Relief Fund, but as he told us last month, he looks forward to getting back to work on Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which could address the pandemic in its upcoming season.

(Via Terry Crews on Twitter, Entertainment Weekly)