joining me now, the one and only kareem abdul-jabbar himself. nba hall of famer, best-selling author, and civil rights activist. i might add. and i can keep going on, but thank you so much for joining us on the show tonight, kareem. you know, in addition to that piece -- in addition to your piece on the influence of nba on vaccine uptake, you also wrote a piece for a magazine comparing those who refuse the vaccine to those who receive seat belts in cars, saying, let me quote you again, they made the choice, but we survivors are left to deal with the grief. it's an elegant and sobering analogy. what responsibility do you think public figures like kyrie irving, yourself, or even me, i also got vaccinated on camera. what responsibility do we have to the public? >> i think our responsibility is to point out the safeness and most capable way of beating down this covid-19. and we all have to work for and with each other. we don't get vaccinated, we don't have the opportunity warding off the disease. it could kill us and it could spread in our communit

kareem abdul-jabbar, as usual, thank you so much for joining us.oing. >> no problem, wolf, nice talking to you. >>> and to our viewers, thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. you can always follow me on twitter and instagram @wolf blitzer. tweet the show at cnn sit room. and the situation room is also available as a podcast. look for us on cnn.com/audio or wherever you get your podcasts. "erin burnett outfront" starts right now. >>> outfront next, breaking news. the fbi just confirming that a pair of human remains were found in a florida nature reserve along with brian laundrie's belongings. is laundrie dead? and will gabby petito's killer ever be brought to justice? >>> plus, she said a january 6th insurrectionist went to the capitol for, quote, one man. now, she is the judge who will decide whether trump's presi presidential records stay secrets. >>> d.c. attorney general going after mark zuckerberg in a lawsuit. the first attorney general to do it. he is my guest. let's go out front. >>> and good

all right, kareem abdul-jabbar. some will to join us and talk about these important issues. especially about covid and police reform. great talking to you. big honor to have you on with us. thanks so much for your time. we appreciate it. >> not a problem. nice talking to you. >> i'm a wizards fan so i can't say go, laker, but just this once. thanks, kareem. take care. appreciate it. i'm definitely a kareem fan. zbl >>> coming up, it's not even halloween, so why is fox yelling about a new war on christmas. doesn't make sense to me. >>> plus, pete buttigeg fighting back. ♪ ♪ ♪ (music quieter) ♪ (phone clicks) ♪ ♪ if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire... now's the time to learn more about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare and get help protecting yourself from the out-of-pocket costs medicare doesn't pay. because the time to prepare is before you go on medicare. don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare for your free decision guide. was that your great-gran

. >> reporter: basketball legend, kareem abdul-jabbar is insisting his nba and players take a tougher90% of nba players are vaccinated. >> i did what was best for me and my family to stay protected. >> reporter: and at least seven of the league's 30 teams say their rosters are fully vaccinated with several others not far behind. but there are a few holdouts, like washington wizards' star, beale. >> when i feel confident and ready with the results i get, i'll handle them accordingly. >> reporter: others aren't sharing their status, like basketball star, kyrie irving. >> i'd like to keep that private. >> reporter: kareem abdul writlo tands they say it's a personal choice. >> it's a personal choice if you don't belong to a team where you have to be in close confinement with other players. they have families. they have friends. >> reporter: after we spoke to abdul-jabbar, cbs news received the daily protocols. undergo daily testing and given lockers as distant as possible from other players and be forced to quarantine, except for essential activities like taking kids to schools or buying

granted, i'm no kareem abdul-jabbar. but.2 years. >> sometimes i just enjoy just listening to the engine. been five days, and all i've listened to is the engine. >> reporter: originally from australia, debbie is now a wife and mother who calls long island, new york her home sometimes. like the 3.6 million truck drivers in this country, most of day, spent on the road. >> 260 is my average days driving. other people do more like 340 or something. >> reporter: no two trips are the same. >> i might be hauling military freight, dog food one day and cotton balls the next day. >> reporter: in fact, 80% of u.s. communities depend solely on the trucking industry as their only means to deliver their goods. the pandemic hitting hard. >> when it hit, it put me out of work for about three months straight. >> reporter: not to mention the rest stops and truck stops closing that truck drivers rely on for food, which is why transfix, the transportation solution provider, decided to thank one lucky driver in a big way. >> the lives of drivers

we discussed the issue with the nba legend kareem abdul-jabbar. >> i don't get it.all know what is going on and people are dying in the streets and we have to do something about it. took he is insisting the nba and its players take a firmer stance on vaccination. the players union said over 90% of nba players are vaccinated. >> i did what was best for me and my family to stay protected. >> reporter: at least seven of the teams 30 teams and their rosters are vaccinated with several others not far behind but there are a few holdouts like washington wizards star bradley beal. >> when i feel confident and ready with the results and the answers i get i will handle them accordingly. >> reporter: others are not sharing their vaccination status like brooklyn that superstar tyreek hill urban. >> i like to keep it private and please respect that. >> reporter: kareem abdul- jabbar writes the dark reality that those who promote hesitancy and more research have blood on their hands. >> unvaccinated players say this is a personal choice. >> it is a personal joints if you don't be

having access to him, how persuadable do you think he is to listen to someone like kareem abdul jabbarhink he's agreeable but he needs acid tests. the head of instagram told mekhi reirving had more engagement than donald trump when he was allowed on. the head of instagram said it is good for leaders to have country view points and fans attach themselves. the next paragraph in my book has a teenager saying, i love all of kyrie's instagram posts, even the weird ones. >> playing a sound bite from draymond green. >> we are dealing with something that to me feels like a political war when you are talking about vaccinated or not vaccinated. that goes against everything stands for. i'm not in any position to go tell him what he should or should not be doing. >> draymond, a hugely influential player. in this era of player empowerment, how do they manage this? >> we are talking about a war on personal freedom and public health. these guys are sweating on each other and yelling at each other. it's not like the guys around you is not vul understandable to a breakout. which has been requiring play

on the other end of that statement, you have kareem abdul-jabbar, who has always embodied that role modeld kareem has been going off, responding to kyrie irving and other players in the nba who have refused covid vaccination or revelation of their vaccination status, saying they should be removed from the teams. i read that 90% of players are vaccinated, according to the league's players association. which would be higher reportedly than pro baseball, but still behind the fully vaccinated women of the wnba, i might add. playing devil's advocate for this audience, what is the wider impact of the nba superstar rejecting the vaccine? and if optically whiter sports like baseball and hockey aren't held to the same scrutiny, why the flack? >> well, i think a lot of the flack is because, you know, these are guys who have put themselves out there when it comes to a number of issues. we saw how the nba and the wnba stood when it came to social justice reform and talking about racial oppression and police brutality voting. we saw this entire league essentially stop playing after the shooting of jac

. >> shannon: i went to quote something from one of the legends, kareem abdul-jabbar.talking to rolling stone about this article. he said there is no room for players who are willing to risk the health and lives of their teammates, the staff, and the fans simply because they are unable to grasp the seriousness of the situation or do the necessary research. what i find especially disingenuous about the vaccine deniers is that there are arrogant -- it sounds like what you have been saying is that you do believe the experts, you are not a vaccine denier, but you have done the study and research but how do you respond and say you may be uninformed about what you are saying? >> i think i am pretty important in my decision. fauci himself was asked the question what you have to say people who have had covid and i don't feel the need to take the vaccine and he says he doesn't have an answer at this time but at the end of the day, we have to put -- we are talking about a virus with a 99.7 survival rate in the vaccine that does not stop infection or transmission. that is where a

opposition to the shot but for some, that policy doesn't go far enough including nba legend kareem abdul-jabbaris what he told my colleague chuck todd, thursday. >> we need to take all the precautions we can in order to not be vulnerable to the virus. anyone who has not made the effort to educate themselves on this issue is irresponsible and should not be allowed to play. >> a story this week in "rolling stone" really shed light on how deep the divisions are. the headline reads, quote, antivaxxers are trying to push around the league, and it's working. joining me now matt sullivan sports reporter who wrote the story and also the author of "can't knock the hustle." not jay-z's song. this is a book. inside the season of protest, pandemic, and progress with the brooklyn nets superstars of tomorrow. thanks for your time, buddy. that last part of your headline is really interesting. explain how the antivax players are pushing around the league and why it seems to be working. >> so the nba told me thursday night it has now passed a conservative nfl with 90% of players vaccinated but my reporting for

so, let's just say he's not exactly kareem abdul-jabbar. [ laughter ] that's the line, i have to do "re research." that means "i need to read up on my facebook memes." robin lopez of the orlando magic, robin's twin brother brook is in the league, played on the milwaukee bucks, they won the championship last year. he had a little fun with this, slyly poking the anti-vaxers on magic media day. >> i'm still not sure milwaukee actually won the championship. i didn't watch. i wasn't there, i didn't watch the game myself. so -- i guess i'll go off the basis of -- there's got to be some kind of proof. i'm going to do my own research and figure out if they won it. [ laughter ] [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: yeah, that was a lay-up, a reverse, and a slam dunk. honestly, we're in so much danger because of these nitwits doing their own research. not just from covid. according to a new study, if we don't work to fight climate change people under 40 will experience an "unprecedented life" of climate change disasters, twice as many wildfires, seven times as many heat waves. and three times as ma

and there have been people like michael jordan, lebron james, kareem abdul-jabbar who have said they vaccinated. in the case of abdul-jabbar saying it's irresponsible for athletes not to do this because so many people in minority communities where the vaccination rates are disproportionately low look up to these people as role models. there's that. kyrie also has not really explained in detail in a coherent way why he's doing this. he says it's a private matter. we know that he's been active in other social justice matters over the years, so there's that. but he hasn't sat down and answered questions and really explained this. he may never will, but he might at some point. so there's that and this also fits into something of a pattern. there's a context for this. you'll remember last year, kyrie irving missed a number of games and practices for, quote, unquote, personal reasons, and he was seen on social media doing things, gatherings on masks and so forth. he's seen as something of a bit of a loose cannon, but a principal person. there's not a lot of outage at the nets because they