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Sports

Eagles DE Chris Long Dunks on Fox News Anchor's Shitty Tirade on LeBron

Laura Ingraham basically claimed that LeBron shouldn't talk politics because he's an athlete. Long shoved a bunch of "non-politician" Fox News guests back in her face.
Photo by Geoff Burke—USA TODAY Sports

Fox News decided to run a hit job on LeBron's recent criticism of the president by way of anchor Laura Ingraham and boy did it get crammed back down her throat, courtesy of Eagles defensive end and back-to-back Super Bowl champ Chris Long.

Yes, our country's political discourse involves athletes—as well it should. The professional leagues we watch are inherently tangled with our political fabric. Legally, socially—every which way. And that was the exact thing that Laura Ingraham was stupidly arguing against. She came out with a stick-to-sports sequence titled "LeBron's R-Rated Politics" where she decided to slam not really LeBron's—and later Kevin Durant's—message, but rather the way that they delivered those messages. And made presumptions about both along the way. Take a listen:

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Here's the bit that offended Ingraham so much: "The number one job in America, the point of person, is someone who doesn't understand the people, and really don't give a fuck about the people." That's just one tiny sound byte of LeBron riffing off the top of his head.

And here's what Ingraham said in a likely-written statement:

I’m numb to this commentary. Must they run their mouths like that? Unfortunately, a lot of kids and some adults take these ignorant comments seriously. Look, there might be a cautionary lesson in LeBron for kids. This is what happens when you attempt to leave high school a year early to join the NBA. And it's always unwise to seek political advice from someone who gets paid $100 million a year to bounce a ball. Oh and LeBron and Kevin? You're great players but no one voted for you. Millions elected Trump to be their coach. So keep the political commentary to yourself. Or as someone once said, shut up and dribble.

Let me just reintroduce you to her line, "must they run their mouths like that?" Yup, her language isn't even coded right there. Understandably, people didn't take too kindly to Ingraham's words. So, Chris Long—who, as a white athlete, stood by his colleagues' decisions to take a knee and refused a trip to the White House—decided to come at Ingraham with a list of nincompoops Fox News has had on-air to discuss politics:

Jon Voit, everybody:

Kid Rock:

Bobby Knight:

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Chuck Norris:

Ted Nugent:

Clint Eastwood:

And he wrapped up his list there, but made sure to include a couple of caveats:

Then he had a message for Fox News viewers:

Even ESPN journalist Jamele Hill wanted to drop a couple of ridiculous examples in the mentions:

Mind you that LeBron's statements came from an Uninterrupted podcast and show, whereas the above Fox News guests were on a
 news show.

And, to help out Chris, some other people made sure to drop some ridiculous examples of actual athletes Fox News has deemed to be "grammatical" enough to talk politics. Like "Former MLB pitcher" (and failed video game entrepreneur) Curt Schilling, and former decathlete Caitlyn Jenner, and football man Terry Bradshaw. Not to discredit them for what their jobs were (though they're pretty easy to discredit for what they say), but that's Fox News putting athletes' political thoughts on a pedestal.

Fox News didn't really need Chris Long to dunk on Fox News. Fox News already dunks on Fox News all the time.