LeBron James and Nike released a sneaker colorway that honors the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day (January 19).
The shoe’s colorway depicts the colors of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, where King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The motel is now the National Civil Rights Museum.
Nike promoted the $210 sneaker as “LeBron James’ 23 ‘Honor the King’ Nikes Remember MLK Jr. & the Lorraine Motel.”
Also, the shoe commemorates LeBron scoring 51 points in an NBA game in Memphis.
David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) was outraged by the “capitalism” of the Lorraine Motel.
“Absolutely disgraceful move by all parties involved. I don’t even know where the money is going,” David said in a video. “This is just bad marks all around for everybody involved. Disgraceful, disgusting act. And I hope that they can figure out some kind of way to right this wrong.”
In other LeBron news, the NBA’s all-time scoring leader was not named a starter in the All-Star game for the first time in 21 years.
As of Tuesday morning, LeBron was not selected to play in the All-Star game, breaking a streak that began in 2005.
The Air Assassination Sites are a no from me dawg https://t.co/7Z3Ho6TI7E pic.twitter.com/ZGzZH5esdt
— David Dennis Jr. (@DavidDTSS) January 19, 2026
X user @clintonyates wrote: “The fact that this is real indicates, yet again, that not enough black folks are in enough rooms at Nike. Or that they dont feel empowered enough to speak up. What a disgrace.”
X user @MrGordon2u wrote: “This is honoring The Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was KILLED! WTH ?!”
User @DionApollo wrote: “Bron said remember a murder scene. Y’all didn’t think this thru @Nike.”
User @rembraandt commented: “Not surprised the mf who is silent on Israel, lies about reading, and twerked for China wears a color scheme of the hotel where MLK was murdered tasteless. LeCoon.”
