Nike Faces Controversy Over Martin Luther King Jr. Inspired Nike LeBron 23 Honor the King

Yesterday was Martin Luther King Day, the federal holiday honoring the life and legacy of civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. But it seems the public was not happy with how Nike plans on celebrating MLK’s legacy this year. Earlier in the month, official images of a new Nike LeBron 23 dubbed “Honor the King” loaded, with Nike describing the pair as inspired by the National Civil Rights Museum and LeBron James’ performance against the Memphis Grizzlies on January 15, 2008 when he scored 51 points, grabbed 8 rebounds, and dished out 9 assists. However, the public is looking at it with some disdain.

“The fact that this is real indicates, yet again, that not enough black folks are in enough rooms at Nike,” said Clinton Yates, a host on ESPN Radio. “Or that they don’t feel empowered enough to speak up. What a disgrace.”

David Dennis Jr., a senior writer at Andscape, also spoke out against the colorway. Dennis captioned the video where he discusses the sneaker, “The Air Assassination Sites are a no from me dawg.” In his video, he said, “There are so many other places you can take colorways from to honor Dr. King… The last place that I would think of would be the signage from where he was assassinated.”

As Nike notes in its official description of the sneaker, the colorway is inspired by the National Civil Rights Museum, though there is some nuance there. The location of the museum is in the former Lorraine Motel where Dr. King was assassinated on April 4, 1968. The teal color comes directly from the color of the building itself.

In a New York Times article written by Sandra Garcia, the president of the National Civil Rights Museum, Russell Wigginton, stated, “We certainly don’t mind people recognizing and appreciating the work that we do and what happened here. But we have not been a part of any aspect of that, of the sneaker coming out.” It’s also worth noting that Nike has been a longtime donor to the museum.

Sandra also received a response from Nike, with John Jowers, Nike’s vice president of communications, stating, “Design is so subjective, and some people the design will resonate with, and others maybe less so, and obviously that becomes a little bit more charged when you have bigger principles at play. I think the intent, though, was really to pay homage to Dr. King, his life and his legacy.”

Nike also has a long history of honoring Black history through sneaker collections. Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, Nike Basketball, Nike Sportswear, and Jordan Brand would prep annual Black History Month packs. These included sneakers from signature athletes like Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and more. These releases have slowed down in recent years, but John Jowers told The New York Times “We believe that our track record of support in this area kind of speaks for itself.”

Is this another Betsy Ross Air Max 1 situation where Nike pulls the plug on the release after controversy? We’re not sure at this time as the Nike LeBron 23 Honor the King is still scheduled to be released on February 23, 2026 as of this writing. As more updates become available, we’ll keep you informed via the Sole Retriever mobile app.

Nicholas Vlahos

Sneakerhead from South Florida who turned his passion into a career. When not writing for Sole Retriever, I enjoy attending concerts, catching the latest movies, and trying new food. Email: nick@soleretriever.com