LeBron James is under fire after tweeting out a “Welcome Home” message to convicted drug trafficker and money-laundering kingpin Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory.
Big Meech was released into a halfway house last week where he will finish out the remainder of his shortened sentence. James was among the famous faces to express their excitement about Meech being that much closer to freedom by sending out a “Welcome home” tweet to his 53.1 million followers.
Amid Meech’s release from prison and James’ celebratory tweet, the Los Angeles Lakers star is facing criticism and sparking debates around whether or not someone of his stature should be welcoming home a convicted drug kingpin.
““Welcome home a murder, killer of KIDS THROUGH DRUGS, killer of countless mothers, fathers hand FAMILIES”. You want to fit in so bad, wanna be hip and cool so bad that you just follow whatever is deemed cool at the moment. Shame on you. Grow tf up,” one critic tweeted in response.
“Lebron supporting drug dealers?!?!?!?! Not my goat,” added someone else.
On the Bagfuel podcast, co-hosts Esso and Hynaken subtly criticized James for publicly supporting Big Meech’s release, questioning the alignment of that endorsement with James’ role as a community impact leader, given Big Meech’s criminal history.
“All these positive athletes and everything
is building schools and telling kids that they need to go and they need do better…the same ball players that’ll spend $300 million in education…and the first thing they doing is saying ‘Welcome home Big Meech?’…you’re making me say ‘he’s cap!’” Esso quipped, in a clip captured by The Jasmine Brand.“This is what you’re doing to the 16 year-old…You’re saying ‘go be a gangster…because this is who we respect, who we love!’”
Sports analyst Jemele Hill joined the conversation, expressing her hope that after 20 years in prison, Flenory has been rehabilitated and can now use his influence to inspire positive change in the same communities he once harmed.
“In a country where a convicted felon is running for president, we have more important sh*t to worry about. That said, this is why I really hope when Big Meech is acclimated, he uses his story to encourage something different,” Hill wrote.
“Young people see what you do. They don’t care about what you say. And y’all might not like to hear it but Meech and his family hurt a lot of people and helped in the destruction of our neighborhoods. I ain’t
judging, but it is what it is. But there’s a real opportunity here for him to do something that could be so meaningful and positive. It’s great he gets another chance. I’d like to see him do something good with it.”Many others defended James’ “Welcome home” message to Big Meech and explained why the NBA star might be happy to see Meech step that much closer to regaining his freedom.
“How about he happy to see a father reunited with his son who has been successful play the role of his father,” one person wrote. “The fact that he has spent most of his son’s life in jail.”
“Both can be true you can welcome somebody home from a bad situation and still want the next generation to do better,” added someone else.
Big Meech was released from a Florida prison
on Oct. 15 but is required to serve the remainder of his sentence, which was reduced from 360 to 292 months, in a halfway house. His projected release date from the halfway house is Jan. 27, 2026, after which he will be subject to supervised release.