Sportsinsider.com recently did a brief analysis of the social media-sports-intersecting landscape, and found that, across 24 states, Lebron James received more hate on Twitter than any other NBA player. The expansive study of over 70,000 tweets tracked posts with negative mentions to accrue data, resulting in the map seen below.
One of the self-proclaimed king’s hardest critics, sports commentator Skip Bayless took a jab at him on Twitter after seeing the stats, saying, “A national poll finds that the most hated player in the NBA is … LeBron James. No surprise here. Can’t wait to discuss on tomorrow’s Undisputed. I’m told Shannon is out of his mind over this.”
On Undisputed, Fox Sports commentator Chris Broussard stated he believed the survey results were the results of racial bias. He told Shannon Sharpe, “I looked at the map…of where people hated LeBron the most, and it was pretty much all the red states. It was the middle of the country, the upper, Northern Midwest…places like that where they aren’t feeling LeBron James.”
The study results prove nothing groundbreaking, as Lebron James has faced hate since the beginning of his NBA career in 2003. Any reasoning behind the results is mere speculation without further analysis of the study.
Kyrie Irving came in second place with 18 states, while James Harden, Kevin Durant, and Russel Westbrook placed low on the list. Check out the map below, and let us know what you think — accurate or nah?
[via]