CNN host Chris Cuomo, who is substituting for Don Lemon, invited controversial sports dad LaVar Ball on the show to discuss LaVar’s well-publicized beef with President Trump.
Ball is the father of Lakers rookie Lonzo Ball and LiAngelo Ball, one of three UCLA players who were arrested for shoplifting in China.
LaVar refuses to show gratitude to President Trump for speaking to Chinese President Xi Jinping on behalf of LiAngelo, 18, Cody Riley, 19, and Jalen Hill, 17.
We now know that LiAngelo was the one who boosted the Louis Vuitton sunglasses from a high end mall next door to the Hangzhou Hyatt hotel where the UCLA basketball team was staying.
LaVar still insists that his son’s shoplifting charge is not a big deal. He implied that it was the first time LiAngelo got caught stealing and that his son is a straight A student who’s never been late to class.
“It wasn’t a big deal, because being raised in South Central L.A., I’ve seen harsher things. Okay, he shoplifted. He wasn’t physical. He returned it. He fessed up to it. It wasn’t like he was like, ‘nah, I didn’t take it.'”
Cuomo pressed LaVar to admit Trump deserved gratitude for intervening. But LaVar held his ground.
“He tweeted — ’cause he’s mad at me — ‘I should’ve left their asses in jail’. First of all, they wasn’t in jail, they was in a hotel. How did they get to the hotel on bail? Somebody had to do something.”
LaVar revealed he (or someone else) put up the bail money to bond the boys out of a China jail.
He criticized President Trump for lashing out at him on Twitter.
“If you helped, you shouldn’t have to say anything,” he said. “Why is that on your mind? All this stuff going on and that’s on your mind that a father didn’t say thank you?”
