Trump Demands LeBron James Apologize for Pregame Movements During Anthem; James Says 'Slow News Day'

President Donald Trump demanded Thursday, Oct. 22, that LeBron James apologize for his behavior during the national anthem before the Philadelphia 76ers' season opener. James' answer was one line.

"It must be a slow news day at the office," he said after the Sixers beat the Cleveland Cavaliers 114-106 on Thursday night. He said it twice.

What the video shows

The clip is from Tuesday, Oct. 20, at Madison Square Garden, before Philadelphia beat the New York Knicks 106-100. Singer Avery Wilson performed the Star-Spangled Banner.

James, lined up with his teammates, makes lateral swinging motions with his arms like a golf swing. He then mimics a basketball shot. Most of his teammates in the footage stand with little movement, some with heads down or eyes on the singer.

The version Trump shared carried an on-screen caption: "LeBron working on his golf swing pregame."

James did not kneel, sit or leave the court. He stood in line and moved. That is all the footage shows.

Trump's post and rally remarks

Trump posted the clip on Truth Social. He wrote: "While listening to our National Anthem, LeBron James disrespects our Country! I said right from the beginning that he's no good, a TOTAL DISGRACE. LeBron James should apologize to all of those Great American Warriors and Heroes who died for the American Flag, and all that our Country stands for!"

Thursday night at a campaign rally in Iowa, he returned to it and called the episode "a big scandal kind of a story."

The midterm election is Nov. 3, less than two weeks away.

A long feud

The two have been trading shots for years. James campaigned for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and has backed Trump's Democratic opponents since. In 2018 he told CNN's Don Lemon that Trump was "using sports to kinda divide us." Trump fired back that James had made Lemon look smart and called Lemon "the dumbest man on television."

In July, asked in the Oval Office to pick between James and Michael Jordan, Trump said: "I think LeBron is, maybe he's a racist. Maybe he doesn't like Trump. But I only like people that like me. So I would say Michael Jordan all the way."

Trump has a long record on anthem protests as well. During his first term he criticized NFL players who knelt, Colin Kaepernick most prominently. Kaepernick later could not find a team, and Trump took credit for that. Years afterward he said Kaepernick should "get another shot."

This case is different from a kneeling protest. No one has claimed James was making a political statement. No source quotes him explaining what he was doing.

The critics' argument

Trump is not the only one objecting. Karen Crouse, writing for Clay Travis' Sport & State, argues that James showed "blatant disregard" for the anthem and for Wilson, a Black performer. She points to the pledge recited at the I Promise School in Akron, which James funds, and asks what message he sent its students.

Crouse also raises James' commercial ties to China, where she says failing to stand for the anthem in public can bring legal consequences, including criminal detention. She writes that James was last year the first NBA player to give an interview to People's Daily, the Chinese Communist Party's official newspaper.

Travis posted on X that James "decided to practice his golf swing during the national anthem" and called him "toxic for the entire NBA." Those are their judgments, not established facts.

The response from the court

James, 41, is in his 24th NBA season, his first with Philadelphia after eight with the Lakers. On Thursday he finished with 17 points, 10 rebounds, five assists and three steals as the Sixers erased a 29-point deficit. It was the franchise's largest comeback in the play-by-play era, which dates to 1996-97, and the biggest comeback win of his career.

Sixers coach Nick Nurse treated the president's comments as noise to tune out. "I think that goes right in with other outside noise we've already had," Nurse said. "All I really care about is getting to the practice floor, getting them in the film room, getting them to the game floor."

What is unanswered

James has not said what he was doing during the anthem, whether he regrets it, or whether he will apologize. His only comment so far is the quip about a slow news day.

The Iowa rally shows Trump is not letting it drop. With the Nov. 3 midterms about 11 days out, the open question is whether the president keeps using the clip on the stump.