A recently surfaced photo showing Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones as a 14-year-old during a civil rights clash at his Little Rock high school in 1957 has led Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James to accuse media of a racist double standard

LeBron James questions why the media asked him about Kyrie Irving sharing a movie controversy but didn't ask his thoughts on the Jerry Jones 1957 photo blocking school integration. H/T @SpectrumSN pic.twitter.com/jdKhXl6PBg

— Clarence Hill Jr (@clarencehilljr) December 1, 2022

Defiant white students at Arkansas’ North Little Rock High School block the doors of the school, denying access to six African-American students enrolled in the school September 9, 1957. Moments later the African American students were shoved down a flight of stairs and onto the sidewalk, where city police broke up the altercation. CIRCLED: 14-year-old Jerry Jones.

The 80-year-old billionaire said he looked ‘like a little burrhead’ in the photo, which was taken amid a wave of civil rights clashes in the Little Rock area. As Jones explained to the Post, his football coach, Jim Albright, had warned players to avoid the widely anticipated scene on the first day of classes at North Little Rock High.

James, who won a title with Irving in Cleveland in 2016, fielded several questions about Irving (right) during the controversy, but was confused why he hasn’t been asked about Jones (left).

The Brooklyn Nets star caught the attention for publicizing the 2018 film ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America’ on social media with a link to its Amazon page.

In the 65-year-old photo, Jones is seen among white students at Arkansas’ North Little Rock High as they blocked six African-American teenagers from entering and integrating the school. Jones has acknowledged to the Washington Post. that that it is, indeed, him in the photograph, although he claims he was there out of curiosity and not any racist intent.

Irving sparked controversy last month by sharing an Amazon link to the 2018 film ‘Hebrews to Negroes: Wake Up Black America.’ The movie is based on a 2015 book by the same name, which Rolling Stone described as ‘venomously anti-Semitic.’ Specifically, it quotes Hitler to convince the audience about the existence of a Jewish plan for world domination.

The Nets star has recently returned following an eight-game suspension after apologizing and meeting several other requirements put forth by the team, including a request to meet with Jewish leaders.

James, who won a title with Irving in Cleveland in 2016, fielded several questions about Irving during the controversy.

‘Me personally, I don’t condone any hate to any kind to any race,’ James said when asked about Irving on November 5. ‘To Jewish communities, to black communities, to Asian communities. You guys know where I stand. I believe what Kyrie did caused some harm to a lot of people. And he has since, over the last — I think it was today, or yesterday — he apologized. But he caused some harm, and I think it’s unfortunate.’

A policeman points to a youth as he stops a group of North Little Rock High School students singing Dixie songs at the school this morning. African American students who tried to enter the school yesterday stayed away on September 10, 1957 in North Little Rock.

On Wednesday, James suggested that the media was more critical of Irving than Jones.

‘I feel like as a black man, as a black athlete, as someone with power and a platform, when we do something wrong, or something that people don’t agree with, it’s on every single tabloid, every single news coverage, it’s on the bottom ticker,’ James said Wednesday. ‘It’s asked about every single day.

‘But it seems like to me that the whole Jerry Jones situation, photo — and I know it was years and years ago and we all make mistakes, I get it — but it seems like it’s just been buried under, like, ”Oh, it happened. OK, we just move on.” And I was just kind of disappointed that I haven’t received that question from you guys.’

Jones has been asked about the photo, describing himself to reporters as a curious onlooker who was not trying to prevent black students from entering his school.

‘I didn’t know at the time the monumental event really that was going on,’ Jones said. ‘I’m sure glad that we’re a long way from that. I am. That would remind me [to] just continue to do everything we can to not have those kinds of things happen.

Two black students – Richard Richardson, 17, and Harold Smith, 17 – are harassed in Little Rock in 1957 as they attempted to integrate Arkansas’ North Little Rock High.

Despite growing up in Cleveland Browns country, Akron, Ohio, James was a Cowboys fan until recently, when Jones discouraged his players from kneeling during the national anthem in protest to racist police brutality. Jones told

‘I had to sit out on the Cowboys, man,’ James said recently when asked about his history with the team. ‘There’s just a lot of things that were going on when guys were kneeling. Guys were having freedom of speech and wanting to do it in a very peaceful manner. … The organization was like, ‘If you do that around here, then you will never play for this franchise again.’ I just didn’t think that was appropriate.’

Jones did object to protests during the 2017 NFL season, when many African-American players took a knee to raise awareness of racist policing practices. He ultimately took a knee with his entire team in September of 2017 in a choreographed demonstration that took place while the national anthem wasn’t playing.

‘Our players wanted to make a statement about unity and we wanted to make a statement about equality,’ Jones said at a postgame press conference in 2017. ‘They were very much aware that statement, when made or when attempted to be made in and a part of the recognition of our flag, can not only lead to criticism but also controversy.

‘It was real easy for everybody in our organization to see that the message of unity, the message of equality was getting, if you will, pushed aside or diminished by the controversy.’