LeBron James Social Activism Backfires As Ratings For NBA Finals Ft. Lakers Tank

The NBA’s over-the-top social justice push is costing them big league – the ratings for the Finals game one on Wednesday between LeBron James’ Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat hit an all-time low.

That comes as a big slap in the face for LeBron and the NBA in general after a season of “wokeness” and controversy.

Ratings Tank For NBA Finals Game One

SportsMediaWatch.com reported that only an average of 7.41 million viewers tuned in to watch the game on ABC.

That makes Wednesday’s NBA Finals matchup “the lowest rated and least-watched NBA Finals game on record (dates back to 1988).”

Total viewership crashed a staggering 45% from game one of the NBA Finals in 2019.

Back then, basketball games were a welcome distraction from politics and the rest of the evils of the world.

Those days, however, are now gone, as you can’t tune in to a professional basketball game now without being forced to look at the words “Black Lives Matter” in huge letters on the sidelines.

Making this even more worrisome for the NBA is the fact that superstar LeBron James and his LA Lakers are typically incredibly popular and a huge ratings draws.

It looks like that might have changed after LeBron basically made himself the poster boy of the NBA’s turn into a social justice-pushing machine.

Maybe Trump was more right about NBA viewership than LeBron James will ever want to admit?

Related: LeBron James Taunts Trump After He Suggests Americans Turn Off NBA Games

LeBron James Goes Political 

Back in July, 35-year-old LeBron launched More Than A Vote, which paid $100,000 to help pay outstanding court debts of ex-felons so they can register to vote, according to Politico.

LeBron claims that he this is a bipartisan effort to help everyone vote. But it was made clear that the NBA star is assuming that the vast majority of these former felons will be voting Democrat.

“Your right to vote shouldn’t depend upon whether or not you can pay to exercise it,” said Miami Heat forward and More Than A Vote member Udonis Haslem.

He went on to say that this move will help ensure that “formerly incarcerated American citizens — many of them Black and brown — are able to pay their outstanding fines and fees and register to vote in the 2020 election and beyond.”

It’s this kind of focus on liberal politics by LeBron that has alienated millions of his conservative fans. 

LeBron James Disrespects Police 

Then there’s the lack of respect LeBron has shown for police officers.

Last month, he blew off a challenge from LA Sheriff Alex Villanueva after the ambush style shooting of two of his deputies in Compton.

The Sheriff challenged the NBA star to match the reward money offered to entice witnesses to come forward with information to help locate those involved in the brutal shooting.

When pressed about the challenge during a press conference, LeBron finally responded with, “I have zero comment on the sheriff.”

Backstory: NBA Star LeBron James Blows Off LA Sheriff’s Request To Help Ambushed Officers

So LeBron has no problem using his fame and fortune to help actual criminals if it means furthering his agenda.

But, when it comes to helping police officers shot in the line of duty, LeBron James has “zero comment.” 

No wonder Americans don’t want to watch his games anymore.