ESPN’s Michael Wilbon on Fox News Host Laura Ingraham: “She Comes off Like a Bigot”
Spencer Hardison
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In a video for ESPN’s newest social justice warrior-centric platform, “The Undefeated,” “Pardon the Interruption” co-host Michael Wilbon and senior NBA writer Marc J. Spears gave their reactions to the recent war of words between NBA superstar LeBron James and Fox News host Laura Ingraham.
During a monologue on her show last Thursday night, Ingraham told James to “shut up and dribble” after the 4-time MVP claimed that President Donald Trump does not “give a f*ck about the people.”
Spears began the hot takes by outright claiming Ingraham’s comments were “racist,” and went on to suggest Ingraham only spoke out against LeBron’s comments to “get some attention.”
Not to be outdone, Wilbon stated that Ingraham’s comments were “thinly veiled,” going so far as to claim the Fox News host “comes off like a bigot.”
“It’s interesting that all these uber-conservatives talk about what stable geniuses they are, but yet they sound like morons when they try and dictate to other people what they should talk about, what they’re intelligent enough to talk about. She comes off like a bigot.”
“I don’t know her,” Wilbon conceded. “I don’t know her work. I turn as frantically off of Fox as I can.”
After roughly 24-hours of backlash in which virtually every talking head in the mainstream media labeled her comments “racist,” Ingraham was back on her Fox News set Friday night boldly defending her comments.
“The left and the media attack dogs can dish it out, can’t they, but they can’t take it,” Ingraham said.
After once again playing the original clip of James, along with fellow NBA star Kevin Durant and ESPN social justice warrior Kari Champion, ridiculing Trump, Ingraham doubled down:
“I called those comments unintelligible, not to mention ungrammatical, last night, which is difficult to dispute. And the left erupted.”
“Almost all the stories accused me of ‘dog-whistle’ commentary and many claimed that my line that LeBron should ‘shut up and dribble’ was ‘racist,'” Ingraham said. “Uh, what?”
The Fox News host then pointed out the title of a book she had written some 15 years ago, “Shut Up & Sing,” going on to claim she’s “been using variants of that title to call out celebrities for 15 years, without regard for skin color, where you came from, what you do.”
Ingraham finally laid to rest any doubts about the intentions of her claim by playing various clips of her using the “shut up and ____” line with white actress Jamie Lee Curtis, white actor Mark Hamill, and white late-night host Jimmy Kimmel.
“So, I’m an equal opportunity critic when it comes to left-wing celebrities sounding off on topics of which they know precious little, and as you can see, race has nothing to do with it,” Ingraham concluded.
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