Everybody’s Crazy is the name of the podcast where James took his stance against the single-earner household.“Just coming home and just seeing somebody just sitting on the couch, every day, just sitting there,” he said. “Just chilling. Like that wouldn’t float for me.”
This clip from the podcast went viral on X, with one post garnering 12 million views in two days. Many of the responses were from peeved stay-at-home mothers, objecting to the portrayal of them as couch potatoes.Was this misogyny (women can be so lazy!) or feminism (women have so much to contribute to the workforce!)?In a recent podcast, LeBron James, seen here with his wife, Savannah, said that he “could not have a stay-at-home woman.” (Brian Rothmuller/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
In LeBron’s defense, he was speaking just for himself, and his home situation is different from that of the average family. Given LeBron’s unfathomable wealth, the Jameses likely have hired workers to clean the house, to do the shopping, to prepare the meals, and even to organize the logistics. When their children were young, LeBron and his wife, Savannah, were also able to afford as much childcare (and child-chauffering) as they wanted.Also, LeBron was addressing a counterfactual — what if he were single today, what would he think of a wife without her own full-time job? A filthy-rich 40-year-old celebrity might be on guard against a gold-digger, looking to just live the easy life off of his wealth.Given the differences, it is no surprise that LeBron is at odds with about half of American parents.A recent poll from Pew Research Center found that among couples with children and two full-time workers, only 49% say that this has a positive effect on their children’s well-being. The other 51% are split between saying it has no effect and saying it is negative.A WOMAN’S WORK IS NEVER DONEBy comparison, in breadwinner couples — where dad works for pay and mom doesn’t — a full 85% believe their arrangement is good for the children.The coincidence of these LeBron remarks with this Pew poll highlights the class split in the United States: Wealthier folks desire the two-full-time-jobs-and-formal-childcare model, while the rest of the country mostly wants to dial back on work so that mom, or dad, can spend more time with the children — even if that means sitting with the kids on the couch.
