Larry Bird did not say “Shut Up and Play the Damn Game”
The Claim
Former NBA star Larry Bird said modern basketball players should stop protesting and just “shut up and play the damn game.”
News posted on
Emerging story
In August 2020, basketball players in the US NBA boycotted playoff games in protest of the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha, Wisconsin. In the week since then, social media users, specifically on Twitter, have circulated a meme claiming to quote former Boston Celtics legend Larry Bird as saying “Back in my day, the game had fundamentals and honored the commander in chief. Now it’s a bunch of radical fundamentalists who dishonor the flag and cross. They only care about looking flashy! Shut up and play the damn game.” This meme has subsequently gone viral.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar’s investigation into this claim reveals it to be false. No mention of this quote can be found before the meme circulated in August 2020, and the Indiana Pacers, with whom Bird serves as an advisor, have denounced the quote as completely false. In fact, Bird famously passed on taking a trip to the White House in1984 and denounced then-President Ronald Reagan, saying “if the President wants to see me, he knows where to find me.”
