Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James has been accused of inciting violence following the conviction of Derek Chauvin. He is receiving huge backlash on the internet over a now-deleted tweet, which he posted following a killing of a 16-year-old in Columbus, Ohio. Fox News commentator, Jesse Watters presented a news piece where he claimed that LeBron James incites violence.
The 36-year-old kid from Akron recently tweeted a post targeting a Columbus police officer. His tweet came after the conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin. The jury found Derek Chauvin guilty of murder and manslaughter of an African-American man, George Floyd a year ago in Minneapolis, Minnesota. James posted a tweet with a picture of Columbus police officer who was involved in the shooting of a 16-year-old in Columbus.
The Columbus police officers shot a 16-year-old Black girl, Ma’Khia Bryant shortly before the conviction of Derek Chauvin. Bryant had a knife on her hand and was attacking another teen with the same knife. The police officers then responded to the disturbance by shooting the girl. On Tuesday, the Columbus Police Department released the body cam footage, which showed Bryant getting shot.
James and several celebrities downplayed the violence started by the girl
Not only James, but several other media personalities decided to ignore the fact that the 16-year-old had attacked another teen with a knife. Even The New York Times and The Washington Post reportedly excluded the reference that the girl was attacking someone during the shooting. A police officer later mocked LeBron James in a viral TikTok video for inciting violence against the police officer.
Lebron James is inciting violence against an Ohio police officer.
This is disgraceful and dangerous.
Is the NBA okay with this? Is Twitter?
— Tom Cotton (@TomCottonAR) April 21, 2021
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
The four-time NBA championship winner tweeted a photo of a Columbus police officer with a caption, YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY. Several critics and viewers slammed the NBA star of inducing his massive followers on Twitter for targeting the police officer. One wrote that the behavior was disgraceful and dangerous to incite violence by such person with huge online presence.
Many believed that the cop didn’t do anything wrong, instead tried to protect a teenage girl. Rep. Lauren Boebert wrote on Twitter that the athlete has constantly trying to divide the country and the behavior is obscene. James later tweeted explaining why he posted his since-deleted tweet and mentioned that he is tired of seeing people getting killed due to their race.
