Despite previously calling the city racist, LeBron James commends Boston museum for including his shoes in new collection

LeBron James, the LA Lakers superstar forward, recently shared a post from the “Museum of Fine Arts, Boston” to his Instagram stories. The post featured a couple of customized pairs of James’ Nike basketball shoes from Ghanaian fashion designer, Mimi Plange.

“Fine Art! Shout out to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston for recognizing this amazing work and adding it to their collection!!” James captioned his IG story.

LA Lakers superstar forward LeBron James commends Boston museum for including his shoes in new collection

Meanwhile, the museum described Plange’s collection as follows:

“We’re excited to share some newly acquired works by @mimiplange. The fashion designer was born in Ghana and grew up in California. Influenced by African art, rituals and architecture, she mixes traditions such as body modifications, scarification, tattooing and body painting with American sportswear classics. Her latest collection—a collaboration with @nikebasketball and @kingjames— showcases Plange’s unapologetically bold and reclamative artistry,” the museum wrote on IG.

“Plange’s works—five pairs of shoes, four dresses, two bags and one jacket—are an amazing addition to our fashion collection, and we’re excited to show them off in our galleries in the future.”

Although King James has had his fair share of issues with Boston City in the past.

What were LeBron James’ specific comments about Boston being racist?

LA Lakers superstar forward LeBron James

As for LeBron James’ specific comments about Boston being racist, they came during an episode of “The Shop” last year. James was asked why he hated Boston so much. The Lakers star then didn’t hesitate to call out the entire city for being racist:

“Cause they're racist as f**k,” James said. “They will say anything.”

However, James added that it was fine because he has been dealing with racism his entire life:

“And it’s fine. It’s my life,” James said. “I’ve been dealing with it my whole life. I don’t mind it. I hear it. If I hear somebody close by, I check them real quick, then move on to the game. They’re going to say whatever the f**k they want to say. They might throw something. I mean, I got a beer thrown at me leaving a game.”

James is not the first NBA player to make such claims about the city. Former Celtics players including Kyrie Irving and Marcus Smart have spoken about facing racism in the city in recent years. Meanwhile, Celtics star wing Jaylen Brown defended some Celtics fans in May 2021, before making it clear that the city still has work to do:

“I think that not every Celtics fan — I know that every Celtics fan in our arena is not a racist,” Brown said to reporters as per ESPN. “We have people of all walks of life, ethnicities, colors, that are die-hard Celtics fans. So I think painting every Celtics fan as a racist would be unfair. However, Boston, we’ve got a lot of work to do, no question.”

Racism may still be present in Boston. However, it looks like the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston is doing its part to lessen the divide in the city.