05 May 2023 , 20:07
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An ESPN pundit has called for the end of the use of “Mount Rushmore” when comparing and ranking sporting greats such as Steph Curry and NBA all-time leading point scorer, LeBron James.
Ex-Duke ace Jay Williams took issue with the term after colleague and popular sports pundit, Stephen A Smith, suggested that Curry could knock James off “Mount Rushmore” should he and the Golden State Warriors defeat LeBron and the Los Angeles Lakers in their Western Conference Play-Off semi-final.
"Can we first off just stop with the Mount Rushmore talk," Williams fumed. "They’re not even the four best presidents this country has ever had.
“Everyone in this room was not even able to vote. I just want to say that off the top. That’s our metric for success? That’s our king?"
Williams isn’t the only US sports pundit to hit out at ranking stars on “Mount Rushmore. In fact, one of Williams’ colleagues, Jalen Rose, went as far as to label the term “offensive” and called for its official cancelling.
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"Can we retire using Mount Rushmore? That should be offensive to all of us, especially Native Americans, Indigenous people who were the first people here before Christopher Columbus," Rose said in a video he tweeted.
"That land was stolen from them when it was discovered that it contained gold. And 25 years later, to add insult to injury, four American presidents were put on what we call Mount Rushmore on the top of the dead bodies that is buried right underneath.
“So, I call for you and for myself — I'm owning this, too — let's stop using the term Mount Rushmore when we're talking about our favorite rappers, talking about our favorite movies, talking about our favorite players."
Curry’s NBA champions, the Warriors, are currently tied with the Lakers in their scheduled seven-game series. The Lakers took Game One, but the Warriors hit back with a convincing win in Game Two, running out 127-100 winners.