Actor Michael Rapaport has been known to give his unfiltered opinion on everything from the president of the United States to Israel-Palestine relations.
His rants are usually of the exposing, outing and ripping the veil off variety.
His most recent target is LeBron James, one of the most popular athletes in history and also one of the most criticized.
The comedian recently appeared on VladTV and claimed what many King James detractors have in the past; that James’ public persona is a huge marketing facade.
“I will say, and I’ll never say who, but a player in the NBA did once tell me, and the hair on the back of my head stood up when he said this, he goes, ‘He’s the fakest player in the league. He’s the fakest motherf***er in the league,'” the 54-year-old comedian narrated. “When he said it, it felt like he needed to get it off his chest, and that’s all I’m going to say. And when he said it, it was almost like a therapy moment.”
The source in question that provided this quote was not revealed, Also, it was apparently from almost a decade ago so oral communications of that narrative can alter from the original version over time.
But everybody gets the point that Rapaport is making. James can come off a bit disingenuous, calculated and clout-chasing at times, depending on the topic, subject and public narrative.
Rapaport also admittingly doesn’t have the best relationship with James, as things went sour back in 2011 NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles.
“I Was Like F- This MFer”: Michael Rapaport Says LeBron Switched Up On Him and His Kids
Rapaport brought his kids there to meet LeBron and possibly get a handshake or an autograph, but according to the ”Prison Break” actor, King James shrugged them off.
That was Rapaport’s first indication that Bron was fake. He had different faces for different occasions.
“It wasn’t like there were tons of people. I had met him a bunch of times, this place and that place. He says, ‘I’m a fan, sir.’ You know, when he first came into the league. ‘Nice to meet you, sir,’” added the actor.
Rapaport didn’t get much sympathy for the incident, because he can come off as privileged and obnoxious at times. His rants against Donald Trump and Joe Biden haven’t earned him much favor with either side of the ticket.
“He looked me in my face and made a decision to … I was like F- you, man!” Rapaport added.
Rapaport feels that LeBron holds a grudge against him because of a beef between mutual friends. “Somebody did something to somebody’s girlfriend,” Rapaport reluctantly reveals to Vlad.
Also, Rapaport admits that he gave LeBron hell when he chose to go to Miami over the New York Knicks and form the “Heatles” with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh. Rapaport used to rip into him regularly for that.
Despite his VladTV appearance, the hip-hop community hasn’t embraced Rapaport as much ever since he did the A Tribe Called Quest documentary without the initial approval of original member Q-Tip and did the national promotion and spots for the film without the full group, just now-deceased member Phife Dawg.
In fact, Rapaport initially rebuffed at taking creative input from the group.
“It was weird and lowbrow. We kinda been dealing with a lot of that stuff from him,” said Q-Tip in 2011. “They weren’t trying to really honor us as producers and we had some issues behind the scenes, in terms of the contracts and all of that stuff. And then because things weren’t all the way solid, we didn’t go to the Sundance Festival, which was the first festival. And when we didn’t go there, then he started going in the press and saying stuff and it got a little adversarial, stuff like you saw like the love letter that’s in the Daily News. Stuff like that was kinda like prevalent, but what can you do?”
Rapaport was able to clean that situation up a bit with Q-Tip, but he was looked upon as fake in that situation. So, he’s one to be calling people names, but then again, that’s what he does.
Other Talking Heads Have Been Critical Of LeBron James’ Persona
Of course, this isn’t the first time that someone has accused LeBron James of being phony. FanDuel TV’s Michelle Beadle, who was blocked on social media by LeBron after criticizing his son Bronny’s questionable path to the NBA and she later called the moment both players took the court together, “manufactured.” She’s also called LeBron “passive-aggressive” and “fraudulent” in the past.
“If this isn’t manufactured, then I don’t know what the word manufactured means,” Beadle said about The James Gang’s historic moment. “But, again, I am not impressed, and I thought this was so ridiculous,” Beedle said.
Beadle even accused Bron of getting her fired her job as “NBA Countdown” Host, so there’s a personal rift of some kind between those two.
On the flip side, she was called out for being the rich white pot calling the kettle black. Social media dropped the receipts on her.
One X user, viciously posted:
“Michelle Beadle dropped out of college in TX then spent 3 years waiting tables and working random jobs
Until her wealthy father pulled strings with the Spurs and got her an internship that she had absolutely no qualifications for
Damn b-tch, I guess you’re a hypocrite”
LeBron James has been the focal point of criticism over his handling of a variety of issues, including the NBA and China, calling Donald Trump derogatory names, often attaching himself to any form of big news in the world of sports and entertainment and most recently and egregiously, the way he has helped his son Bronny get drafted and a guaranteed $8M from the L.A. Lakers as the 55th overall pick in the draft.
Whatever he does is going to incite public opinion, and sometimes people don’t like the way he operates, but there’s a legion of defenders and fans who will always have his back as well. Is LeBron fake? Well, isn’t anybody who doesn’t act or respond to situations the way others would like them to?
The praise and criticism will continue for one of the most compelling and impactful athletes this world has ever known. It’s hard to please everybody.
