Posted on 12/13/2017 11:12:27 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
A reluctant LiAngelo Ball said that he wouldn’t have thanked President Trump if his school hadn’t instructed him to do so.
The former University of California, Los Angeles, basketball player said that school officials told him to thank the president in his statement to the press after being released from a Chinese prison following an arrest for shoplifting.
“My school wanted to hear it,” he told the New York radio show. “If they didn’t tell me to do it, it wouldn’t have been in there, to be honest.”
He added: “Before I went up there, it was like, ‘You’ve got to thank him.’ I just threw him in there real quick right before I gave my speech.”
The players were arrested one day before Trump visited China last month.
After their release, he tweeted, “Do you think the three UCLA Basketball Players will say thank you President Trump? They were headed for 10 years in jail!”
Afterwards, during a press conference, Ball and the other two players apologized and thanked Trump.
The story didn't end there. Ball's father, LaVar Ball, declined to give Trump credit, invoking the president's ire, and remarked that he would have thanked Trump if he brought his son home from China on Air Force One.
“I would have said thank you if he would have put them on his plane and taken them home. Then I would have said, ‘Thank you, Mr. Trump, for taking my boys out of China and bringing them back to the U.S.’ There’s a lot of room on that plane. I would have said thank you kindly for that,” he said in an interview.
UCLA suspended Ball and the other two players after the incident. Ball took it a step further by pulling his son out of the university.
His sorry a$$ should still be in China.
This young man has a few things to learn about class, grace and gratitude.
Not surprised - they did not exactly reek of sincerity that day.
Trump should have left him in jail. If Obama saved me, you can darn well bet I would have thanked him publicly without prompting.
It’ll be a long and difficult road. He has a poor and common ass acting as teacher. It’s evident his father doesn’t know any better. The napple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
Interesting contrast to the terrorists Obama returned to the battlefield.
Ball is ignorant and sadly ungrateful.
What an entitled POS
The whole damn family
I hope karma comes a calling to these arrogant jerks....and comes quick...
His father is leading by setting the worse example possible.
This kid will get into trouble again. Count on it.
Hide and watch because it will come
This guy is in front of reporters, none of whom manage to ask something pertinent like:
“Why do you steal?”
I’d have let them stay in a Chinese jail until my next state visit.
But that’s just me...
-Jonathan Givony at @DraftExpress
should have left him in the can , I am sure the ChiComs would have had fun with him . Charge Yen to see him in a walk-by view cell .
The other players seemed more sincere than Ball.
Not guilty by entitlement privilege, per the father.
If the boy had already been in jail for a month, he got a taste of reality before being with his delusional father.
Can someone please post that “Not This Sh&T again” pic?
Really, now the son is being a bigger jackass than his dad...yeah that’s great.
What a useless punk. I hope the physicality if international ball gets his attention....that and being in a country where he can’t speak the language and doesn’t know the local customs
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.