NBA star LeBron James took to Twitter yesterday to post a picture of a policeman from Columbus Ohio who shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant, with the caption “You Are Next”. Needless to say, the tweet did not go down well with many users who called out LeBron for not educating himself about what really happened.
Since then LeBron has deleted the tweet but proceeded to explain through his account the decision process that led to him taking down the tweet in the first place.
LeBron deleted it pic.twitter.com/iJil2ohGkn
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) April 21, 2021
What seems to have happened was that LeBron was certainly not fully aware of what actually occurred that led to the officer firing on Ma’Khia Bryant in the first place. Footage shows that Bryant was actually holding a knife and threatening an unarmed person when the officer fired on her.
This fact led to a ton of users calling out LeBron for his ignorance on the matter. The video of Bryant holding a knife to a woman was released prior to LeBron’s first tweet. Hence, all of the backlash from individual users and police organizations.
.@KingJames, with his vast resources & influence, should educate himself and, frankly, has a responsibility to do so, on the facts before weighing in. This is disgraceful & extremely reckless.
The officer saved a young girl's life. No amount of gaslighting will change that fact. pic.twitter.com/GTHn1VAAlf
— National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) (@GLFOP) April 21, 2021
Just when it seemed that LeBron would own up to the mistake and delete the tweet to issue an apology he takes another route. He did delete the original tweet, but he doubled down in a sense. Mentioning that,
“My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail!”
This second tweet sparked even more backlash as users called LeBron out for directly threatening a police officer who had actually potentially saved the life of another person who was in danger.
ANGER does any of us any good and that includes myself! Gathering all the facts and educating does though! My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail! ??✊???
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
In the last tweet in his rant LeBron specifically mentions why he took his first tweet down. Arguing that the tweet was “used to create more hate”. Not really a surprising fact as the tweet’s original intention seemed to be to do just that.
Lebron rambles on about looking for accountability within the system. What ultimately sparked more negative backlash seemed to be the fact that LeBron never directly apologized for his first tweet. Instead still keeping at the position that the officer was in the wrong.
I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
At this point in time, there has been no direct response from the NBA to the situation. From reading through some of the user tweets in the thread it may not be surprising if different institutions take legal action against LeBron James.
Many people took the original tweet as a direct threat to the officer’s life. Seeing as how the current social landscape is shaping up, that could be very true. LeBron is currently out with an injury and won’t be suiting up for the Lakers for the time being. Which, could be a blessing for him to see things cool off.
