LeBron James regrets posting a tweet on the day a White police officer shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio, because he believes his words were deliberately misinterpreted by his detractors and did not fuel the dialogue he wanted.
The Los Angeles Lakers superstar took to Twitter to explain to his 50 million followers that what he intended with his original words and what transpired afterward were two totally different things.
James took a lot of heat from powerful people, including Donald Trump, who claimed the NBA star was threatening the life of the officer when he tweeted his photo and wrote in all caps, “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY” on April 20, 2021.
I fueled the wrong conversation about Ma’Khia Bryant and I owe it to her and this movement to change it. Thank you @fabiolacineas for educating us about Ma’Khia and her story and why this needs to be about her. https://t.co/Owh1vDJWXi #sayhername #Blacklivesmatter
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 3, 2021
King James, 36, thanked Vox writer Fabiola Cineas for penning a piece titled “Why they’re not saying Ma’Khia Bryant’s name.” The scribe explained there is no national outcry for Bryant because she was wielding a knife and appeared ready to strike her alleged victim just before the Columbus cop opened fire.
Cineas also mentioned in her article that some “crisis response expert” felt that police Officer Nicholas Reardon could have deployed other means to de-escalate the situation, thereby sparing Bryant’s life.
Nevertheless, James remains steadfast in his original intent, posting this the follow-up tweet to his mea culpa:
Protect our Young Black Women & Men! 🙏🏾✊🏾🤎👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) May 3, 2021
James and many others took it hard that the Black teen met her fate on the same day that former Minneapolis cop Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd in a Minneapolis courtroom.
