Houston Rockets point guard/shooting guard James Harden found himself on the receiving end of Twitter’s seemingly never-ending wrath this week.
Shortly after he shared a photo of himself wearing a mask associated with Blue Lives Matter — a Black Lives Matter countermovement in the U.S. advocating for those who are prosecuted and convicted of killing law enforcement officers to be sentenced under hate crime statutes — he started catching flak for it immediately.
Mask Up
? @NBA pic.twitter.com/PFsIuJybYb
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) July 17, 2020
But as Young Thug and Meek Mill see it, Harden made a simple mistake. Both rappers defended the basketball star and assumed he didn’t know what the mask symbolized.
“Just so u know James harden is my brada,” Thug tweeted. “btw he don’t have internet so he obviously don’t know what’s right or wrong if he posted something that’s against US…but I hate when rappers get in niggas biz like it’s can’t happen to em. buster let niggas clear they shit up activist.”
Just so u know James harden is my brada… btw he don’t have internet so he obviously don’t know what’s right or wrong if he posted something that’s against US…but I hate when rappers get in niggas biz like it’s can’t happen to em? buster let niggas clear they shit up activist
— Young Thug ひ (@youngthug) July 17, 2020
Meek echoed Thugger’s sentiments, writing, “Y’all know damn well Jh don’t know what that mask meant because I don’t! He donate millions in real life to our people! End of story.”
Y’all know damn well Jh don’t know what that mask meant because I don’t! He donate millions in real life to our people! End of story.
— Meek Mill (@MeekMill) July 17, 2020
Harden has since denied he knew what the mask represented when he put it on, explaining to reporter Adam Wexler, “I wasn’t trying to make any political statement I honestly wore it because it covered my whole beard…It covered my whole beard, I thought it looked cool, that was it.”
"I wasn't trying to make any political statement I honestly wore it because it covered my whole beard…It covered my whole beard, I thought it looked cool, that was it." – #Rockets James Harden today answering question about the mask he wore yesterday. #NBABubble
— Adam Wexler (@AdamJWexler) July 17, 2020