Zlatan Ibrahimovic Doubles Down On "Stick To Sports" Claim After LeBron James' Savage Response

Zlatan Ibrahimovic has clarified comments in which he suggested LeBron James should "stick to sports" - by reiterating what he believes an athlete should do.

Ibrahimovic recently branded the LA Lakers star as "phenomenal at what he's doing," while criticising him for his political activism.

It saw James respond by telling the AC Milan striker he does his "homework" on those who call him out.

The 39-year-old has now responded and told the San Remo Show per SportsCenter: "Politics divides the world, sport unite it.

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"Football unites athletes wherever, we do what we do to unite: this was my message. Athletes should be athletes and politicians should do politics."

It is a similar message to that Ibrahimovic delivered during an appearance on Discovery+.

He said: "[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 become in a certain status.

"Stay out of it. Just do what you do best because it doesn't look good."

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James was made aware of the comments following the Lakers' victory over the Portland Trail Blazers on Friday.

The four-time MVP defiantly stated he would not back down from voicing his opinion with what is wrong in the world.

He explained per The Guardian: "I will never shut up about things that are wrong. I preach about my people and I preach about equality, social justice, racism, voter suppression - things that go on in our community.

"Because I was a part of my community at one point and saw the things that were going on, and I know what's still going on because I have a group of 300-plus kids at my school that are going through the same thing and they need a voice.

"I'm their voice and I use my platform to continue to shed light on everything that might be going on, not only in my community but in this country and around the world.

"He's the guy who said in Sweden, he was talking about the same things, because his last name wasn't a [traditional Swedish] last name, he felt like there was some racism going on.

"I speak from a very educated mind. I'm kind of the wrong guy to go at, because I do my homework."

Topics: Football, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, NBA, AC Milan, lebron james

Daniel Marland

Daniel is a journalist for SPORTbible and he has previous experience with Manchester United. He has spoken to some of the biggest names in sport including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch, WWE COO Triple H and WWE legend The Undertaker. May or may not do a decent impression of Jamie Carragher.

@DanMarland_