Ja Morant briefly paused, contemplating what he'd say after being asked about the way he's been portrayed since a video of him doing the 'Rock Ya Hips' dance during a game against the New Orleans Pelicans went viral.

The dance was assumed by some viewers to be a gun celebration. The following day, the dance's creator debunked that idea.

Barstool Sports posted a video of Morant and Texas Longhorns quarterback Quinn Ewers doing the same dance and had different takes to each video.

"Ja spraying imaginary bullets into section 113 after the slam," the post read after Morant's video.

"Quinn Ewers is having fun," a New Year's Day post from the same account said.

After the different responses were noticed, many people pointed it out on social media. Morant posted a laughing emoji on Jan. 2 when he noticed the posts.

Morant responded directly to the way he's portrayed after the Grizzlies' 116-111 loss to the Toronto Raptors.

"I've said before, you have people that probably don't like me or whatever," Morant said. "I can't control that. I don't know anybody who tweet that stuff personally besides people I see on the normal, which is my family. I don't be around nobody else."

"However they feel about me, that's how they feel," he added. "I can't go out there and tweet for them or do anything to make them change how they feel about me. I let everybody else handle that.

"That's above me. I've seen where that gets me when I attack somebody or do whatever. It's just going to make it worse."

Many Grizzlies fans and Memphis natives have come to Morant's defense in recent days, including his teammates.

In the past, maybe Morant would have had more of a direct response to those critics, but this time, he's taking the high road.

"I'm going to let Memphis handle all that for me," Morant said. "I know they got my back and I love them and appreciate them for it."

This article originally appeared on Memphis Commercial Appeal: Ja Morant responds to critics of celebration viral 'Rock Ya Hips' dance