The purpose of the fifth annual Two Kings Dinner was to celebrate LeBron and Jay-Z teaming up with Sprite to present a renovated gym filled with new equipment to the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles. This is the third consecutive year that LeBron and Jay-Z used the vast platform of the NBA All Star weekend to give back to the community.
“We wanted to bring a lot of powerful people into this room and make this real. Sort of open up a charitable aspect of this party and give away a lot of money to the kids that need it. And I think that we’ve done it,” Jay-Z said. “We’ve developed real partners with Bing, who has sponsored this event for two years, and Microsoft and Sprite, who has been with us for five years. LeBron and I come from very humble beginnings. And the difference between Bill Gates and brothers from Marcy’s Projects is opportunities. With opportunities, people that are talented can go to the next level.”
LeBron, who rose from instability and impoverishment in Akron, Ohio, echoed the sentiments of his friend and business partner.
“We got an opportunity to go to the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles. This was great, but at this gym in East Los Angeles, it was the first time in 53 years that the gymnasium has been revamped. For me, kids are the number one thing. And like Jay said, it’s nice that we can come here and we have our nice suits and dresses on, but the kids are the number one thing,” LeBron said. “Anytime that us as celebrities or us as powerful people can give back to the inner-city or to kids who believe – or who don’t believe – there are opportunities for them, we should do it. Wherever you are, you should give back because the kids are our future.”
One aside: Some media outlets have falsely reported that Beyonce and Jay-Z are separated, and that Jay rolled to the party without Bey Bey. But, I saw Beyonce huddled up at the party with Rihanna and a posse of girlfriends as Jay-Z gave a speech thanking the crowd for coming out to support his charitable donations to the Boy & Girls Club of Los Angeles. I wanted to snap photos, but a Russian-looking bodyguard with bloodshot eyes and a stare that nearly bore holes through my skull, barked rather convincingly, “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.”
Another aside: As I stood with a group of men outside the event under the heat lamps, one of LeBron‘s many bodyguards, whose neck is as thick as a lamp post, mumbled to a bodyguard of BET CEO Debra Lee that LeBron and girlfriend, Savannah Brinson, are already married. Interesting. Could they have hitched up on the low-low? –terry shropshire
