Bill Livingston of the Cleveland Plain Dealer criticized James for slam-dunking a baby.

In the skit, James stood at the side of the stage, holding a baby in a blanket in his arms. Then James jumped and dunked a doll wrapped in the same blanket through a basket. After it smacked off the floor, he said, “Let’s see if Angelina Jolie can adopt that baby.”

[youtube]9HLWhyKCT_c[/youtube]

From today’s papers:

Those of us who have been around him for years in the media like him for this. He can poke fun at himself. It is rare in a world in which players take offense at any perceived slight and speak of themselves in the third person. Later in the show, James mocked his nervous habit of biting his fingernails, chewing at them as if they were an ear of corn.

As for the baby slam, however, if it was supposed to be some kind of reply to fans wondering why he hasn’t married his girlfriend, it didn’t work.

And why drag Angelina Jolie in for doing a good deed in a world in need of it?

It was shock for the sake of shock. James was playing against type as the guy who wants everyone to like him. It also was an appalling lapse in judgment.

Blaming the people who wrote the script doesn’t work. James has made almost no missteps in his endorsement and entertainment career. He chooses smart, funny commercials that let him “showcase,” to use one of his favorite terms, his sense of humor. He has held his own with David Letterman.

It was up to him to say he would not do the skit. Because humanitarianism isn’t the butt of a joke. Because child abuse isn’t funny.

Source: Cleveland.com