LeBron deletes cop killing tweet over ‘hate’ backlash
LEBRON JAMES has taken down a threatening tweet he posted about a US cop who shot dead a teenage girl.
The NBA star had been accused of inciting violence after he wrote: ‘You’re next. #ACCOUNTABILITY.’
He said he had thought better of the message as it was being used to ‘create more hate’.
Black 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant was killed by the white officer, Nicholas Reardon, after he was called to an altercation in Columbus, Ohio, on Tuesday. The teenager, who had charged at two people while holding a knife, was shot just minutes before Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was convicted of murdering George Floyd.
After his initial outburst, James, 36, wrote: ‘I’m so damn tired of seeing black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because it’s being g used to create more hate. This is 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.’
He added: ‘My anger still is here for what happened to that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may
justice prevail!’ Republican senator Tom Cotton condemned the LA Lakers star’s initial comments as ‘disgraceful and dangerous’, tweeting: ‘Is the NBA okay with this? Is Twitter?’ Police released bodycam footage to show why Mr Reardon fired. A bystander is heard protesting: ‘You didn’t have to shoot her, she’s just a kid man!’
But the officer responds: ‘She had a knife. She just went at her.’