The world has been paying a lot of attention to LeBron James’s strange social media activity lately. So when a reporter tweeted that James would “quit basketball” if he played on the Northern Iowa team, it immediately became news. Predictably, it also sparked outrage:

@mcten That’s why he’s a soft #NBA player. You think Kobe, MJ, magic, bird, Wade, etc. would say that? Failure makes competitors better.

— J B (@TruePG718) March 23, 2016

RT @mcten LeBron on the A&M comeback over UNI: “I would quit basketball. If I was on Northern Iowa, I would quit.” pic.twitter.com/5OK1DUyBEy — Erick Fernandez (@ErickFernandez) March 23, 2016

@mcten Oh, sort of like when he quit against the Celtics in the 2010 playoffs? — Dave Hrinak (@djhrinak) March 23, 2016

And sure, if LeBron had really been telling the UNI Panthers, who suffered an improbable and heartbreaking loss to Texas A&M, that they should stop playing, that would be wrong and mean-spirited. But here’s the thing: ‘Bron wasn’t being serious. You have to see him deliver the quote to know that. Which you can do, since Cleveland sports reporter T.J. Zuppe captured the whole interaction:  

LeBron joking about the A&M comeback over UNI pic.twitter.com/jrbmZ3qnIl — T.J. Zuppe (@TJZuppe) March 23, 2016

See how he’s trying not to crack up at the four-second mark? That’s because he’s joking. It might be a bad joke. And you might have had to see LeBron in other press conferences to know that that’s how he acts when he’s having fun with an answer. But it is. Zuppe knows it..

So everybody just chill out on ‘Bron, man. After all, it’s not like he unfollowed you on Twitter or something.