Colby Covington rips NBA, MLB players for boycott in protest of police shooting of Jacob Blake

Colby Covington isn’t happy about NBA and Major League Baseball players taking drastic measures Wednesday to protest the police shooting of Jacob Blake.

Covington, the former UFC interim welterweight champion, turned to Twitter to criticize the NBA and MLB for postponing games as it became clear that players were mobilizing to sit out games in protest of racial injustice and police brutality. The NBA postponed all three Game 5s of its first-round playoffs, and MLB also postponed three regular season games.

The postponements came after the Milwaukee Bucks’ players refused not to take the court for their game against the Orlando Magic. The NBA said in a statement that games will be rescheduled, although the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers were considering a boycott of the rest of the season as of late Wednesday night.

The players chose not to play in protest of the police shooting of Blake on Sunday in Kenosha, Wisc. Blake, a Black man, was shot in the back seven times as he tried to enter the driver’s side of his vehicle with his three children inside. Blake’s family said Wednesday that he is paralyzed as a result of the shooting, which was caught on video and went viral, leading to social unrest with people calling for justice.

Covington, meanwhile, called for NBA and MLB players to leave their “privileged lives” and become cops if they want to be so critical of police.

“Oh wow, you postponed your games?!” Covington wrote. “Wanna prove you’re really about change? Quit your milti-million [sic] dollar jobs and soft privileged lives playing a kids game, take a massive pay cut and perform the toughest job in America. Become cops!!!!!”

Covington’s tweet tagged the twitter handles of the NBA, MLB and superstar Lebron James.

Covington, who’s known for his support of President Donald Trump, has been very vocal in backing police and Blue Lives Matter in contrast with the Black Lives Matter movement. Covington’s tweet Wednesday night wasn’t the first time he’s gone after James online.

Covington also criticized then San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and NFL players for taking a knee during the national anthem in protest of police brutality.