Jason Whitlock absolutely blows up Lebron James' racial castigation of America

Sports commentator Jason Whitlock stirred up a hornet's nest Thursday when he blasted the comments by Lebron James about being black in America after someone spray-painted a racial slur on the gate of his home in Los Angeles.

"I get when I was a young person some people called me a bad name, the n-word, whatever, it hurt my feelings," Whitlock said, "But did it stop me from rising? Hell no! Stop Lebron James?"

"And you know Lebron's comment about no matter how rich you are," he added, "no matter how famous you are, it's tough being black in America."

"That is a lie!" he exclaimed emphatically.

"It's not tough being Oprah Winfrey, it's not tough being Lebron James. It's not tough being Jason Whitlock," Whitlock continued. "When I leave here today, I'm gonna drive to Wilshire boulevard, get out of my car, and throw the keys to my car to some white or Latino man who's gonna say, 'Mr. Whitlock, anything I could do for you today?'"

"I'm gonna walk into my building," he added, "with a concierge, probably black, [will say] 'Mr. Whitlock I got a package for you, anything I can do for you today?' Then I'm gonna go to my fourth floor apartment, and continue to do whatever the hell is I wanna do. "

"To sit here and say, 'Oh my God, my house was vandalized in L.A., and on the eve of this greatest sporting event, I am traumatized - it's just not true," he said.

"He didn't say he was traumatized," the host objected.

"I understand," Whitlock allowed, "but that was the way he postured, it was all said for the benefit of social media and Twitter. Again, I'm fired up about it, because, again, this is the 'embrace debate network,' that's what we label ourselves as. And so I'm not out of bounds here when I say, I saw the dispute and Shannon Sharpe today say, 'The hardest thing is being black in America.'"

"I was just like, this is cra-have you ever tried to be a veteran that lost a leg in America?" Whitlock asked.

"Have you ever been a poor person accused of a crime and forced to go to a public defender in America?" he continued. "Of any color! If you're poor, regardless of color, you are catching hell! I've been poor! Shannon's been poor! We know the difference! We know how good our lives are!

Whitlock was referring to comments by NBA star Lebron James, who said, "being black in America is tough." Someone vandalized his home with a racial epithet, and he commented on the state of racial relations in America adding, "It just goes to show that racism will always be a part of the world, a part of America."

"Hate in America, especially for African Americans, is with them every day," he added. "Even though it’s concealed most of the time, people hide their faces, say things about you. When they see you, they smile in your face. It’s alive every single day.”

The social media response seemed to be overwhelmingly in favor of Lebron's lamentations and not Whitlock's rebuttal.

Whitlock recently diagnosed ESPN's falling viewership as partly because of liberal bias on the part of the network.