LeBron James Apologizes For Offending Anyone With “Jewish Money” Lyric From 21 Savage’s Song, “ASMR”

Over the weekend, LeBron James found himself in the middle of a controversy after he shared a lyric from 21 Savage’s song, “ASMR,” from his latest album, “I am > I was.” 

“We been getting that Jewish money, Everything is Kosher,” James wrote on Instagram on Saturday afternoon, which was met by criticisms the following day after Darren Rovell shared a screenshot on Twitter. 

In fact, Doug Ellin, the producer of the HBO hit, “Entourage,” took to Instagram to shed light on the offensive lyric, saying, “Interesting, not only to post the lyric, but to spend the time to type it out too. Yeah, #KingJames you go get that ‘Jewish money.’ Guess whatever money you’re getting isn’t enough #jerkoff.” 

Although James had no intention to offend anyone with the lyric, as he believed it to be an ode to the Jewish business community, he apologized to those that took offense. 

“Apologies, for sure, if I offended anyone,” James said on Sunday after the Los Angeles Lakers’ loss to the Memphis Grizzlies. “That’s not why I chose to share the lyric. I always [post lyrics]. That’s what I do. I ride in my car, I listen to great music, and that was the byproduct of it. So I actually thought it was a compliment, and obviously it wasn’t through the lens of a lot of people. My apologies. It definitely was not the intent, obviously, to hurt anybody.” 

James is the latest celebrity to fall under fire over an offensive Jewish lyric. Back in July, Jay-Z came under fire for his line in “The Story of O.J.” on “4:44,” where he rhymes, “You wanna know what’s more important than throwin money away at the strip club? Credit/ You ever wonder why Jewish people own all the property in America? That’s how they did it.” 

At the time, the Anti-Defamation League, an origination dedicated to fighting anti-semitism, explained the problematic nature of the lyric, saying, “The lyric does seem to play into deep-seating anti-Semitic stereotypes about Jews and money. The idea that Jews ‘own all the property’ in this country and have used credit to financially get ahead are odious and false. Yet, such notions have lingered in society for decades, and we are concerned that this lyric could feed into preconceived notions about Jews and the alleged Jewish ‘control’ of the banks and finance.”