LeBron James on Trump: 'We Don't Disrespect Women' in Locker Room. 'That's Trash Talk'

LeBron James was asked on Tuesday about “locker room talk” and, without mentioning Donald Trump’s name, he explained that it didn’t include “trash talk” about women.

“What is locker room talk to me? It’s not what that guy said,” the Cleveland Cavaliers player told reporters, clearly making reference to a recently released “Access Hollywood” recording of Donald Trump bragging about groping women and grabbing them “by the p***s.”

“We don’t disrespect women in no shape or fashion in our locker room,” James said. “That never comes up.”

The GOP nominee has brushed aside criticism of the comments, saying that they were merely “locker room talk.” Trump’s defenders claim that such talk is common among men, especially in locker rooms.

“I’ve got a mother-in-law, a wife, a mom and a daughter, and those conversations just don’t go on in our locker room,” James explained. “What goes on in our locker room is sporting events that happened the night before, about family, about strategies that we may have that night, about a highlight that may have happened, you know, if there was a home run in the bottom of the ninth or there was an alley-oop dunk from a player the night before. That’s what happens in our locker room.”

“But what that guy was saying,” James added, again clearly referencing Trump, “I don’t know what that is. That’s trash talk.”

I’m with LeBron. I call BS on those saying this is how “normal” heterosexual men talk when women aren’t around. While some men obviously do, decent, mature men don’t disrespect women, either in public or behind closed doors. And they certainly don’t forcibly kiss and grope them, as Trump has bragged about doing.

UPDATE: Several friends (and commenters below) have pointed out that LeBron is in no position to be lecturing anybody about disrespecting women. The Cavaliers are known to blast Kanye West’s vile music in the locker room and in fact, LeBron and several other players attended Kayne’s concert in Cleveland earlier this month and even danced in the mosh pit. LeBron and Kanye posed for pics together backstage and talked about how they inspire each other. A friend who emailed me said he’s no prude but, “Have you seen Kanye’s lyrics towards women? They are awful. Beyond awful.” He advised me not even to google the lyrics because they are so offensive.

Point taken. LeBron, who has endorsed Hillary Clinton, needs to get off his high horse and clean up his own act. But I do stand by the point I was hoping to make in the first place—that real men respect women and don’t use vile language to describe them. And they don’t talk about taking advantage of a woman sexually as if it’s ok and perfectly normal heterosexual behavior. It’s wrong, it’s evil, and we need to keep saying it until the lecherous reprobates understand it and believe that we mean it.