--- title: LeBron James Speech at ESPY Awards: Read the Transcript description: LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade delivered a powerful speech during the 2016 ESPY Awards, calling for change. canonical: https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/ author: Melissa Chan article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-14T15:10:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-31T09:54:30.802Z article:section: Sports og:title: Read LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony's Powerful Speech on Race at the ESPY Awards og:description: Fellow NBA stars Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade joined in the call to rebuild divided communities og:url: https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8253625b3625cdd2/69889bf5ab6d7720056aa74d/lebron-james-espys-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The 2016 ESPYS - Show og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Read LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony's Powerful Speech on Race at the ESPY Awards twitter:description: Fellow NBA stars Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade joined in the call to rebuild divided communities twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8253625b3625cdd2/69889bf5ab6d7720056aa74d/lebron-james-espys-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=2400&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Read LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony's Powerful Speech on Race at the ESPY Awards  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jul 14, 2016 3:10 PM UTC  (L-R) NBA players Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James speak onstage during the 2016 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California. (L-R) NBA players Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul, Dwyane Wade and LeBron James speak onstage during the 2016 ESPYS at Microsoft Theater on July 13, 2016 in Los Angeles, California.Kevin Winter—Getty Images  by [Melissa Chan](https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/)  ## Melissa Chan Jul 14, 2016 3:10 PM UTC LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade on Wednesday teamed up to [deliver a powerful speech during the 2016 ESPY Awards](http://time.com/4405746/lebron-james-espy-gun-violence/?xid=homepage), in which they called for fellow athletes to use their fame to heal a country divided by racism, injustice and gun violence. The NBA stars mention last week’s fatal police shootings of [Alton Sterling](http://time.com/4395459/alton-sterling-baton-rouge-police-shooting/) in Louisiana and [Philando Castile](http://time.com/4397086/minnesota-shooting-philando-castile-role-model-school/) in Minnesota, which Anthony said had sparked “distrust” and “anger” in many Americans. James said it’s time to walk away from just feeling “frustrated” and start to help rebuild divided communities. “Let’s use this moment as a call to action for all professional athletes to educate ourselves,” James said. “Speak up. Use our influence. And renounce all violence.” “We all have to do better,” James added. Here are their remarks from the ESPY Awards at Microsoft Theater in Los Angeles: --- > “” --- ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/"},"headline":"Read LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony's Powerful Speech on Race at the ESPY Awards","datePublished":"2016-07-14T15:10:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-31T09:54:30.802Z","description":"Fellow NBA stars Chris Paul and Dwyane Wade joined in the call to rebuild divided communities","url":"https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/","keywords":["celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8253625b3625cdd2/69889bf5ab6d7720056aa74d/lebron-james-espys-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Chan","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-chan/"}],"articleSection":"Sports","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8253625b3625cdd2/69889bf5ab6d7720056aa74d/lebron-james-espys-speech.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 2016 ESPYS - Show","caption":"The 2016 ESPYS - Show","creditText":"Kevin Winter—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/sports/","name":"Sports"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4406289/lebron-james-carmelo-anthony-espy-awards-transcript/","name":"Read LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony's Powerful Speech on Race at the ESPY Awards"}}]}] ```