WATCH: Lebron James calls out Marcus Hayes over his locker room incident with Joel Embiid

LeBron James went on The Pat McAfee Show today and, for one brief and shining moment, became the voice of an entire city — by ethering Marcus Hayes on national television.

Yes, that Marcus Hayes. The guy who’s made a living out of being the absolute worst version of a sports columnist, somehow managing to piss off athletes, fans, and his own industry peers all in one foul, miserable swoop.

If the words “Marcus Hayes” are in the byline, you can be almost certain it’s going to be an antagonistic mess dressed up as journalism.

Joel Embiid shoves columnist in 76ers locker room following loss to Memphis Grizzlies >>

So when LeBron decided to bring up the infamous Joel Embiid locker room confrontation — unprompted, by the way — it sent a shockwave through Sixers Twitter.

Lebron James calls out Marcus Hayes

@libertylinephl

LeBron calls out Marcus Hayes on the Pat McAfee Show 😱

♬ original sound – The Liberty Line

“I’ve seen something with Embiid where a reporter came into the locker room and started speaking about his brother or something. How weird is that? That’s so weird. Why are we taking it to that point?”

Brother. You could hear the collective YUP from South Philly to the Great Northeast.

This is what makes this whole thing so poetic. LeBron James, one of the most scrutinized athletes in the history of sports — a guy who’s dealt with everything from slander to psychoanalysis of his parenting — took one look at what went down with Hayes and Embiid and went, “nah, that ain’t it.”

And he’s right. Marcus Hayes has built a brand off this shtick. Find a popular athlete, poke them until they react, then write a column about how they’re “too sensitive” or “don’t understand the media.” It’s tired. It’s corny. And frankly, it’s damaging.

A Brief Reminder of That Locker Room Incident

In case you’ve blocked it out of your memory like most of us tried to, here’s what happened: Hayes snuck into the Sixers’ locker room uninvited and brought up Joel Embiid’s dead brother — and somehow managed to frame himself as the victim when Embiid took issue with it.

And instead of media solidarity, Embiid got piled on. Accused of being combative. Of “not understanding the role of the press.” That’s the twisted part. Marcus Hayes gets to hide behind the press pass while dunking on people for clicks. But when an athlete stands up for themselves? They’re the problem.

It took LeBron James to step in and say the obvious: this isn’t journalism. This is clout-chasing in a trench coat.

LeBron: King of the People (At Least For Today)

Let’s be honest: Philly fans have had our ups and downs with LeBron over the years. Today he is one of us. Not because he shouted out the city, but because he did something that literally every Philly sports fan has wanted to do — put Marcus Hayes on blast with a national audience watching.

Hayes doesn’t represent Philly. He never has. He’s a one-man content mill who thrives off being hated. But the next time he tries to stir the pot and play the victim, we can all point back to this moment.

LeBron James cooked him and rightfully so.

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