In response to a political comment from NBA superstar LeBron James, a Fox News commentator suggested he “shut up and dribble.” James and many others considered the comment racist. Defenders suggested the comment was driven by political ideology rather than race. Interestingly, both perspectives could find support in existing research, as some studies depict race as a central factor in responses to political athletes, while other studies dismiss the role of race and find that political ideology and nationalistic sentiments drive how people see activist athletes. Using responses to a large national survey asking whether respondents find athlete political activism “acceptable,” here I find strong evidence that both ideology and race shape attitudes on the subject. The picture that emerges reveals that party and ideology matter, but even after controlling for them, the race and racial views of the respondent help shape their perspective on political athletes. Establishing the importance of race and racial views here helps illuminate why the intersection of sports and politics generates such fierce responses including unvarnished vitriol from some political figures.

在回应 NBA 巨星勒布朗詹姆斯的政治评论时，福克斯新闻评论员建议他“闭嘴，运球”。詹姆斯和其他许多人认为该评论是种族主义。捍卫者表示，该评论是由政治意识形态而非种族驱动的。有趣的是，这两种观点都可以在现有研究中找到支持，因为一些研究将种族描述为对政治运动员做出反应的核心因素，而其他研究则忽略了种族的作用，并发现政治意识形态和民族主义情绪驱动着人们对激进运动员的看法。使用对一项大型全国性调查的回答，询问受访者是否认为运动员的政治激进主义“可以接受”，在这里我找到了强有力的证据，表明意识形态和种族都塑造了对该主题的态度。出现的画面表明党和意识形态很重要，但即使在控制了他们之后，受访者的种族和种族观点也有助于塑造他们对政治运动员的看法。在这里确立种族和种族观点的重要性有助于阐明为什么体育和政治的交叉会产生如此激烈的反应，包括一些政治人物的直言不讳。