Lavar Ball vs. Trump: Who wins this beef?
By Alexis Alex
Lavar Ball, the outspoken basketball dad of Lonzo, LiAngelo, and LaMelo Ball is one of Trump's latest social media targets. This beef is centered around Lavar Ball suggesting Trump did not have an instrumental role in the release of son LiAngelo Ball and his two teammates who were arrested in China on November 7 for shoplifting before the UCLA season opener. The three players were released after admitting to the crimes.
As discussed in our initial article, Trump released a series of Tweets demanding apologies from the UCLA players and Lavar Ball. The players have since publicly thanked Trump in a public interview, but Lavar is refusing to show his gratitude. Lavar Ball appeared on CNN Monday to discuss his brewing beef with Trump. In his interview with Chris Cuomo, Lavar made it clear that he is not attacking or criticizing Trump but he doesn’t feel the need to thank the President. Ball also claimed he did not know if the president actually helped in the release of the players, by saying "let's just stay in our lane," referencing Trump sticking to politics and him dealing with his son. Watch a snippet below:
The interview soon turns into a cricus between LaVar and Cuomo about who is owed a "thank you". Lavar even says he would thank the President of China before Trump, "Did he help the boys get out? I don't know. ... If I was going to thank somebody I'd probably thank President Xi (Jinping)."
Towards the end of the interview, LaVar claims the only way he would have thanked Trump is if he would have brought the boys home on Air Force One. He claims, "Then I would have said, 'Thank you, Mr. Trump, for taking my boys out of China and bringing them back to the U.S.' There’s a lot of room on that plane. 'Thank you kindly for that.'"
A Trump response is expected to come soon.
This beef seems to be a battle of egos. Lavar Ball is arrogant and Trump is a narcissist. Neither of them are willing to risk damaging their egos for the sake of a resolution. Also, the biggest problem to unpack here is Trump's obsession with picking fights for Black athletes and public figures. It seems to be apart of Trump's agenda to wage a media war against these Black athletes and public figures to please his white, working - class base. At the end of the day, Trump asked for an public apology from the players and they did that, but calling out Lavar Ball was unnecessary. Seemingly, Trump has met his match in Lavar, Ball's CNN interview made it clear he is not afraid of Trump's wrath.
So who wins this beef? Lavar, by far. His son is released, he is making Trump look like a whiny baby, and he just gained huge publicity by arguing with the President of the United States. Those are all wins in Lavar's book.
As for Trump, please stop Twitter beefing and go do your job, Lavar wins this one.
