NBA superstar LeBron James: That’s why he’s taking a break from social media

What motivates a superstar like LeBron James (39) to say goodbye to well over 200 million Instagram and X followers? The NBA giant announced in a post on both platforms that they would be taking a social media break. The drastic step is to be understood as a protest against what he considers to be too negative reporting in sport, as his last posting suggests.

To justify his time out, James first reposted a tweet from Kevin Durant’s (36) manager Rich Kleiman (47), which he had posted at the end of October. : “We can all recognize that sport is the last part of society that brings people together universally. Why can’t reporting do the same?”

Kleiman went on to say that this is deeply disturbing, especially in this day and age. “With so much hate and negativity in the world, it baffles me that some national sports media still think that negative approaches are the best way to cover sports.” He therefore called for a move away from so-called “click bait” journalism.

LeBron James now commented on this criticism with an “Amen” and wrote about the current reporting: “It’s a damn shame what it’s become.” He then said goodbye to his numerous followers (159 million on Instagram and 53 million on X): “And on that note, I say goodbye to all of you! I’m leaving social media for now. Stay safe.”

LeBron James, who turns 40 on December 30th, is currently the oldest and one of the most successful players in the American professional basketball league NBA. He left it open exactly what incident caused him to take a break from social media. Just a few days ago, however, he had spoken critically about derogatory comments he had read about himself online and which apparently called him a liar. “Everyone on the internet keeps calling me a liar. They say I lie about everything”, .