*AC Milan forward Zlatan Ibrahimovic is not backing down on his criticism of LeBron James by reiterating his belief that athletes should “stick to sports” and stay out of politics.Â
Speaking in a news conference Tuesday, Ibrahimovic doubled down on his previous comments — check out the clip above.
“Athletes unite the world, politics divide it,” he said. “Our role is to unite the world by doing what we do best. Athletes should be athletes and politicians should do politics.”Â
Per ESPN, during an interview for UEFA for Discovery+ in Sweden on Thursday, Ibrahimovic said: “[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time.”Â
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“Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football,” he continued. “I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics. That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they become in a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best, because it doesn’t look good.”
James clapped back at Ibrahimovic’s comments, saying “He was the same guy who said when he was back in Sweden … because his last name wasn’t a certain last name, that he felt there was some racism going on when he was out on the pitch,” James said. “I speak from a very educated mind, so I’m kind of the wrong guy to actually go at because I do my homework.”
Ibrahimovic previously said he was subject to “undercover racism” by the media in his native Sweden because of his Bosnian roots, per ESPN.
“I am not Andersson or Svensson,” Ibrahimovic told Canal+ in 2018. “If I would be that, trust me, they would defend me even if I would rob a bank. They would defend me, I tell you.”
Watch LeBron’s reaction to Ibrahimovic’s criticism via the YouTube clip above.
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