Former Miami Heat stars Dwyane Wade and LeBron James are known to be incredibly proud of their Black heritage, but polarizing pundit Candace Owens has now called the two out for not living in Black communities.
Owens made the comments directed at Wade, James and Wade’s wife Gabrielle Union during a recent episode of her YouTube podcast.
“Considering every time a Black person gets any money, they don’t choose to live in Black neighborhoods even though they can certainly afford to,” Owens said. “Looking at you, LeBron James. Looking at you, Patrisse Cullors. Looking at you, Gabrielle Union and Dwyane Wade.”
She later added that she thinks James should have used his massive fortune to build a home in Chicago.
“None of these people are living in Black neighborhoods. They’re living in white neighborhoods far away from the drama they love to comment on,” she said. “Why didn’t LeBron James take his many millions and build a giant home in the middle of the south side of Chicago?”
She may not be aware of it, but Wade is actually the individual who was born and raised in Chicago, not James.
James is a product of Akron, Ohio. Though he did not live in Akron during his playing days with the Cleveland Cavaliers, he has injected millions of dollars into the community.
His I Promise School is arguably one of the greatest charitable achievements by any athlete in the history of professional sports.
As for Wade, his Wade Family Foundation has been incredibly charitable when it comes to protecting individuals within the LGBTQ community.
Wade was recognized in 2020 by the TIME100 list for his social activism.
Owens, on the other hand, has made a career out of partially attacking Black celebrities like Wade and James for perceived hypocrisies. She has a strong following amongst the political far-right wing. At the end of the day, her decision to take aim at Wade, James and Union likely has a lot to do with the fact that she knows her decision to talk about them will create headlines.
This is far from the first time Owens has taken aim at James. She criticized him in 2020 for discussion racial inequality in the United States. In 2022, she baselessly argued that James “is low IQ” and claimed that he lies to his massive following.
Owens has already received a lot of backlash in the comments section of her recent podcast episode, and it’ll be interesting to see if she tries to backtrack her previous statements at all. Given her track record, that seems very unlikely.
