LeBron James pivots presser to address 1957 photo of Cowboys owner Jerry Jones

A few weeks ago, lifelong Dallas Cowboys fan LeBron James announced that he was abdicating his fandom, in large part because of concerns about the way Jerry Jones and the front office handled off-field matters like player protests.

According to James himself on an episode of The Shop: Uninterrupted:

"“Naw, man, I had to chill out on the Cowboys,” he explained as he announced a special version of his show The Shop: Uninterrupted that will serve as an alternate stream during Amazon Prime Video’s Thursday Night Football broadcast. “There’s just a lot of things that were going on when guys were kneeling, and guys were having freedom of speech and wanting to do it in a very peaceful manner. And a lot of people in their front office and a lot of people that ran the organization were like, ‘If you do that around here, then you’ll never play for this franchise again.’ I just didn’t think that was appropriate.”"

It didn’t take long for James to address the Cowboys’ leadership once more, pivoting his postgame press conference Wednesday night to ask for questions about a 1957 photograph of the integration of schools in Little Rock that reportedly features a young Jerry Jones eyeing the process.

The NBA star was disappointed that he’d been asked to discuss myriad recent Kyrie Irving controversies, but his thoughts on the “buried” photo of Jones hadn’t been requested.

Former Dallas Cowboys fan LeBron James wants to bring attention to Jerry Jones childhood photo

It’s clear to all onlookers why James has received questions about Irving, a former teammate embroiled in controversy who was rumored to be close to rejoining the Lakers this offseason.

Jones’ photo is also relevant to James, though, who expressed mere weeks ago that he didn’t believe the Cowboys owner had a handle on social justice initiatives, nor was he properly supporting players who felt the need to protest. The photograph, while taken decades prior, would seem to underscore what James perceived from the outside.

When confronted with the photo prior to Thanksgiving weekend, Jones’ response was quick and to the point:

"“That was 65 years ago, I had no idea when I walked up there what I was doing, just a reminder to me how to improve and do things the right way,” Jones said."

While it certainly was 65 years ago, and times have changed, the resentment that underscored the events of 1957 has become more mainstream again in recent years. All James wants is for the actions of the past to not be forgotten, by Jones or anyone else in power.

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