Basketball star LeBron James continued to incite violence against the Columbus, Ohio police officer who became target of leftist fury this week after shooting a 16-year-old black teenager who lunged at another with a knife.
Officer Nicholas Reardon fired his weapon to save a black teen Tuesday afternoon after being called to the chaotic scene for help. Body camera footage released Tuesday night revealed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant charging the young girl with the deadly weapon.
https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1384705688958427141?s=20
The headline from National Public Radio (NPR) still reads, as of Wednesday evening, “Columbus Police Shoot And Kill Black, Teenage Girl,” as legacy outlets racialize the shooting without nuance to conflate the Minneapolis death of George Floyd with all incidents of police use of force. The White House, without evidence, piled on to the outrage Wednesday to claim the shooting that saved another black teen was motivated by racism.
Just as James bought into the corporate, Democratic narrative the Georgia elections law passed earlier this year recreated Jim Crow, James jumped onto the leftist bandwagon Wednesday to demand “ACCOUNTABILITY” in a since-deleted tweet featuring Reardon’s picture.
“YOU’RE NEXT,” James wrote, the day after former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty on all three counts in Floyd’s murder.
LeBron James deleted this tweet but only after it had 39,000+ likes. The man in the photo saved a young black girl from another young black girl who was going to stab her in the neck. He did his job. Now @KingJames put a target on his back. Is the @NBA okay with this??? pic.twitter.com/QegzyySnsI
— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) April 21, 2021
While the tweet was deleted more than an hour after it was published, James posted a follow-up doubling down on his remarks demanding retribution against an officer who saved the life of a black teen.
“I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police,” James wrote. “I took the tweet down because its [sic] 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.”
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
James’ initial post earned a response from the National Fraternal Order of Police (FOP) blasting the comments as “disgraceful” and “reckless.”
“The officer saved a young girl’s life. No amount of gaslighting will change that fact,” the police group wrote.
.@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
James’ remarks also drew ire from Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz, who slammed the comments as an ignorant post motivated by ideological blindness.
“Unfortunately, this is a pattern where the left consistently goes after, attacks, and demonizes police officers,” Cruz said on Fox News Primetime hosted by Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech. “And they do so often before the facts are known, often before there is any evidence of what happened.”
James’ post came as leftist activists complimented their pre-existing demands to “defund police” with insistence on allowing teenagers to stab each other.
A Black teenage girl named Ma’Khia Bryant was killed because a police officer immediately decided to shoot her multiple times in order to break up a knife fight. Demand accountability. Fight for justice. #BlackLivesMatter.
— Valerie Jarrett (@ValerieJarrett) April 21, 2021
Vilifying an officer for saving a black American’s life is a sharp escalation of the calls for anarchy that have emanated from the political left with White House support. James had already established his loyalty to leftist causes, such as the Chinese Communist Party.
As Hong Kong began to fall as a free, independent subsidiary of Beijing in the fall of 2019, James criticized NBA colleagues who tweeted support for the Hong Kong protestors. James said Houston Rockets General Manager Daryl Morey was “misinformed” and “wasn’t educated on the situation at hand” when Morey published a post in solidarity with the freedom demonstrations opposing Beijing’s dystopian crackdown.
LeBron comments on Daryl Morey’s China tweet: "I believe he wasn't educated on the situation at hand and he spoke."
(via @BenGolliver)pic.twitter.com/kbUxvRgCO3
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) October 15, 2019
