LeBron James says he's just 'trying to figure this pandemic out' after comparing COVID-19 to flu and common cold

LeBron James
(Image credit: Meg Oliphant/Getty Images)

Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James says he's "trying to figure this pandemic out" after sharing a COVID-19 meme that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar slammed as "uninformed."

James recently posted a meme on Instagram that shows three versions of Spider-Man pointing at each other, with one labeled "COVID," another labeled "flu," and the third labeled "cold." He seemed to be implying he's unsure of the difference between the three, and he captioned the image, "Help me out folks." Former Lakers player Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in a Substack post slammed James over this, writing, "By posting the uninformed meme, LeBron has encouraged vaccine hesitancy which puts lives and livelihoods at risk."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan worked as a culture writer at The Week from 2018 to 2023, covering the entertainment industry, including film reviews, television recaps, awards season, the box office, major movie franchises and Hollywood gossip. He has written about film and television for outlets including Bloody Disgusting, Showbiz Cheat Sheet, Heavy and The Celebrity Cafe.