On her Fox News program, reporter Laura Ingraham responded to a recent interview on ESPN’s podcast, Uninterrupted, with NBA superstars LeBron James and Kevin Durant, belittling James while insisting that he stick to basketball and not speak his mind.

With the comments Ingraham made on February 15th, the debate on athletes speaking out has ignited once again, but this time with an even more controversial flair. According to Emily Sullivan’s NPR article, in an interview, James called many of President Trump’s statements “scary” and “laughable”.

“The No. 1 job in America, the appointed person is someone who doesn’t understand the people,” said James.

To this Ingraham seemed to get very offended, responding with some fury. She even came at the athlete with personal attacks.

“Unfortunately, a lot of kids take these ignorant comments seriously,” said Ingraham. “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.”

LeBron James later corrected the reporter, for he actually did graduate high school before going on to professional basketball, according to an article from The Guardian. Ingraham went on to make a concluding and infamous suggestion.

“Shut up and dribble,” said Ingraham.

By insinuating that James is both too ignorant to voice his own opinion and too uninformed to be able to speak with any sense of authority, Ingraham infuriated people across the country. According to senior Jackson Brown, James’s rights are being attacked.

“The constitution states we all have the right to freedom of speech and the press,” noted Brown in an interview. “It seems unfair to say LeBron can’t exercise those rights.”

According to Dan Devine’s article of Yahoo Sports, the acclaimed head coach of the San Antonio Spurs, Greg Popovich, is one of the many that don’t concur with Ingraham’s suggestions.

“(The statement by Ingraham) was an unbelievable show of arrogance,” said Popovich in a pre-game interview just hours before he would face James on the court.

According to Hannah Withiam’s article of the New York Post, once Ingraham recognized all of the backlash of her statements, she seemed to attempt to backpedal, claiming she has said similar things about stars of all professions and races over the years.

“I have used a variation of that title for more than 15 years to respond to performers who sound off on politics,” said Ingraham, citing her New York Times bestseller ‘Shut Up and Sing’.

Whether or not she has been saying it for years, it still struck a nerve in the American Public. Another Blanchet senior Markus Millan sees no problem with a person speaking their mind.

“Who are we to decide what people talk about, or how they talk about it?” asked Millan in an interview. “It shouldn’t matter if a person is a star or an average Joe”.