LeBron James deleted a tweet calling for “accountability” after a US police officer shot and killed a black teenager in Columbus, Ohio, saying his anger would only fuel more hate.
James had tweeted “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY” beside an image of white officer Nicholas Reardon and an hourglass emoji after Ma’Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old who had appeared to drop a knife after charging at two people, was killed on Tuesday (Wednesday NZT).
“ANGER does any [sic] of us any good and that includes myself! Gathering all the facts and educating does though!” James, an Akron, Ohio, native, wrote in two tweets. “My anger still is here for what happened that lil’ girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail!
“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.”
Two Republican members of Congress were among those who criticised James’s initial tweet.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas called the message “dangerous” and asked if the NBA and Twitter were “okay” with it.
“LeBron James is inciting violence against an Ohio police officer,” Cotton tweeted. “This is disgraceful and dangerous. Is the NBA okay with this? Is Twitter?”
Republican Senator Ted Cruz of Texas called James’ original tweet “grossly irresponsible” in a Fox News Primetime interview on Wednesday (Thursday NZT).
“The left consistently goes after, attacks and demonises police officers and they do so often before the facts are known, often before there is any evidence of what happened,” Cruz said, “but their immediate reaction, whenever there is an incident, is that police officer’s in the wrong, the police officer is the villain.
“And in this instance, ‘you’re next’ could certainly be interpreted by some, even, as a call for violence. I think it was a grossly irresponsible message for LeBron James to send out.”
Cruz added: “By any measure, it was a volatile situation. The woman who was killed was wielding a knife, was violent, appeared to be threatening the lives of others. It may well be, on an investigation, that this police officer saved the life of a potential victim of a knife attack and we shouldn’t jump to conclusions.
