Houston Rockets star James Harden faced backlash on social media after he was seen wearing a mask marked with a thin blue line normally viewed as a symbol supporting law enforcement.
In a Thursday tweet by the team captioned “Mask up,” Harden can be seen in an accompanying photo wearing a black American flag mask with a blue line on it.
Mask Up
? @NBA pic.twitter.com/PFsIuJybYb
— Houston Rockets (@HoustonRockets) July 17, 2020
Though Harden has previously been vocal about his support for protests demanding racial equality, critics were quick to notice his choice of mask.
R&B singer-songwriter Trey Songz called the post “certified clown-shit” in a tweet.
This certified clown shit. I’ll say it for everybody who scared to. FOH https://t.co/pVRMaL9dPG
— Trey Songz (@TreySongz) July 17, 2020
Rapper Young Thug claimed Harden, who is his friend, didn’t know what the symbol meant when he put on the mask, saying he doesn’t have internet and doesn’t know what’s right or wrong as a result of that.
Many NBA players have been vocal in their support for the Black Lives Matter movement, which resurged after the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody.
When asked if he would wear a social justice message on his jersey, Harden told ESPN’s Marc Spears that he wasn’t sure what he wanted to wear yet.
Rockets star James Harden on whether he had a social justice message he planned on using personally and on his jersey: “I’m working on it right now. I’m in the process of figuring out if I’m going to put a message on my back and other ways to deliver my (social justice) message.”
— Marc J. Spears (@MarcJSpears) July 16, 2020
“I’m working on it right now,” Harden said. “I’m in the process of figuring out if I’m going to put a message on my back and other ways to deliver my [social justice] message.”
The thin blue line on the American flag has come to be a symbol of a countermovement to Black Lives Matter sometimes referred to as Blue Lives Matter. It often represents solidarity with law enforcement and is considered pro-police.
