Zlatan Ibrahimovic has shed light on his recent comment about LeBron James going into politics, claiming the NBA star missed the point in his message.
The Swede had criticised the basketball superstar for getting involved in political issues away from the slam and dunk game.
Meanwhile, Ibrahimovic has insisted that what he meant was “athletes unite the world, politics divides the world” after a war of words had ensued between the two sporting icons.
Before now, the Los Angeles Lakers star issued a blunt response to the 39-year-old striker that he’s the “wrong guy to go at”.
James accused Ibrahimovic of hypocrisy while making reference to the Swede’s outspoken comments on racism in his homeland in 2018.
“Racism and politics are two different things. We athletes unite the world, politics divides the world,” Ibrahimovic told the media.
“Everyone is welcome, it has nothing to do with where you are from, we do what we do to unite.
“We don’t do other things because we are not good at it, otherwise I would be in politics.
“That’s my message. Athletes must be athletes, politicians must be politicians.”
Ibrahimovic told Discovery+ last week: “[LeBron] is phenomenal at what he’s doing, but I don’t like it when people have some kind of status, they go and do politics at the same time.
“Do what you’re good at. Do the category you do. I play football because I’m the best at playing football.
“I don’t do politics. If I would be a political politician, I would do politics. That is the first mistake people do when they become famous and they reach a certain status. Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn’t look good.”
“It’s funny that he’s (Ibrahimovic) said that because I believe back in 2018 he’s the same guy who said that when he was back in Sweden, he was talking about the same things.
“Because his last name wasn’t a certain last name, he felt like there was some racism going on while he was out on the pitch… right?”
