On Wednesday, LeBron James decided to celebrate the push for diversity by commending the several Black women, who are the cover stars for the September issues of magazines, including Beyoncé for Vogue, Lupita Nyong’o for Porter, Rihanna for British Vogue and Issa Rae for EBONY.
In two Instagram posts, the I Promise School founder shared the various covers also featuring Tiffany Haddish, the cast of Pose, Nicki Minaj, Elaine Welteroth and Cleo Wade.
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James captioned the post, “Nothing in this world is more POWERFUL than Colored Women!! Thank you all for continuing to not settled and setting great examples in life for some many looking up to you for inspiration/guidance and love!! My daughter is watching! #WomenPower,” along with a flexing arm, heart and crown emojis.
The posts have nearly a million likes combined and an endless amount of positive comments about Black women getting the representation they deserve in many industries. Despite James’ heartwarming message to marginalized women, several commenters suggested that the freshly minted Laker’s gesture was “racist.”
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An offended user wrote, “We are all equal, so yes it is racist to say nothing is more beautiful than a colored woman when in reality each person is just as equal as each other.”
And another followed with, “I feel like if I were to say ‘nothing in the world is more powerful than white women’ it’d be racist.”
The comment section filled with people trying to explain why covers such as the ones James posted are necessary. However, the NBA superstar has not responded to any backlash from the posts.
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