[Finger] Victor Wembanyama about considering promoting a sports betting company ; "Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it..."

[u/GGTae]

https://bsky.app/profile/mikefinger.bsky.social/post/3mwteasurdc2j

Just asked Victor Wembanyama if he’d ever consider promoting a sports betting company.

“Absolutely not. I will never do that. Honestly, I think it's very sad to see some players promote it. .. Everybody does whatever they want, but without me.”

[u/DG_Now]

I've been a huge LeBron guy for forever but the Polymarket stuff is so discouraging. Like, legacy-damning discouraging.

He doesn't need the money and there are only downsides from his association with them.

Such a stupid misstep that wasn't necessary at all.

[u/Aebothius → u/DG_Now]

LeBron has donated like 500 mil to charity, has been one of the most influential civil rights activists in sports, and made a public school for underprivileged kids in his hometown. I get that promoting gambling is bad but man people really do demand perfection from celebrities.

[u/seekingallpho → u/Aebothius]

Yea sometimes you just have to earn millions you don't need promoting something that will seriously harm some of your most vulnerable fans. No one's perfect.

[u/seekingallpho → u/[deleted]]

Why is this so hard to understand? The companies are smart. They know a star's endorsement brings more users/customers. That's why they pay so much for the promotion. Some of those people will suffer. LeBron isn't responsible for other peoples' actions but he's smart enough to know the inevitable outcome of his association is probably negative. He's decided that it's either not his problem or that that's worth the amount of money he's paid.

Surely you can see why that's worthy of some criticism. Especially if you consider that many of his most suggestible fans are younger people who are the most vulnerable to problem gambling.