Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is facing fierce backlash over a now-deleted tweet targeting a Columbus police officer involved in the shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.
Bodycam footage released Tuesday night showed Bryant was shot while attacking another black teenager with a knife.
However, like many public figures, James suggested the Columbus shooting was illegal and followed the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin on charges of murder and manslaughter in George Floyd’s death.
“YOU ARE THE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY,” the NBA icon wrote with an hourglass emoji over an image of one of the officers at the scene of Bryant’s shooting.
LEBRON JAMES NOW REMOVED TWEET TARGETS OFFICER IN OHIO POLICE SHOOTING: ‘YOU’RE THE NEXT’
James has been accused by critics of using his massive Twitter followers to target the officer.
Lebron James incites violence against an Ohio police officer. This is disgraceful and dangerous. Is the NBA okay with this? Is Twitter? ‘ Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark. asked.
“On behalf of professional athletes, current and former, I apologize for how #LeBronJames just showed his inner Maxine Waters and posed a very real, ongoing threat to the life of the officer who acted quickly to prevent a knife attack from getting worse Ours appreciate what LEOs do! ”former Major League Baseball player Lenny Dykstra wrote.
LeBron James doxes [sic] Police officer who rescued a teenage girl from a death blow demands that the officer be held accountable, sets a new record for athletes stupidity, ” OutKick founder Clay Travis tweeted.
“Reported as imminent violence,” wrote journalist Emily Miller, flagging the tweet on Twitter.
“That agent has done nothing wrong by any reasonable measure, and now someone with 50 million followers is encouraging attacks on him,” said conservative writer AG Hamilton. “That’s at the top [of] countless news organizations lie about his actions. Decent people must speak up. Real people will be hurt by this. “
James returned to Twitter to explain the “Fury” he felt when he posted that tweet.
“Anger does some good to each of us and that includes myself!” James tweeted. ‘Gathering all the facts and teaching it does! My anger is still there about what happened to that little girl. My condolences to her family and may justice prevail! ‘
He added, “I’m so damn tired of seeing black people get killed by the police. I deleted the tweet because it’s being used to incite more hatred. This isn’t about one officer. It’s about it. whole system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more JUSTIFICATION. “
James is one of many public figures and media outlets to downplay the fact that Bryant attacked someone when she was shot.
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Former Obama assistant Valerie Jarrett claimed the police officer shot Bryant “to break up a knife fight.”
Other tweets, including reports from The New York Times and The Washington Post, completely omitted any reference to the knife Bryant was holding at the time of the shooting.