Former President Donald Trump slammed NBA star LeBron James after he sent a tweet that said, “You’re next,” with what appeared to be the photo of the Ohio officer who shot and killed a black teenager who police said was about to stab another female individual on Tuesday.
The Los Angeles Lakers player, who added the hashtag #accountability in his tweet, deleted the message on Wednesday less than two hours after it was sent out.
“LeBron James should focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television RATINGS, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the League,” Trump said in a statement Thursday evening. “His RACIST rants are divisive, nasty, insulting, and demeaning. He may be a great basketball player, but he is doing nothing to bring our Country together!”
SECURITY CAMERA REVEALS NEW ANGLE OF FATAL POLICE SHOOTING OF 16-YEAR-OLD WITH KNIFE
Because James deleted the tweet, Twitter said it was unable to judge whether the basketball player violated its rules of “inciting violence,” which kicked Trump off the platform.
“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,” James said in a follow-up tweet. “It’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY.”
James has local roots, being born and raised in Akron, Ohio. He also spent much of his NBA career playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
Ma’Khia Bryant, 16, was identified as the teenager who was killed by officer Nicholas Reardon, who was responding to a call about an attempted stabbing in Columbus, Ohio. The Columbus Division of Police released the body camera video of the incident, which showed Bryant holding a knife in the middle of an altercation on a residential driveway, and police said she was “attempting to stab” another woman when Reardon fired his weapon four times.
Bryant was later declared dead at a nearby hospital.
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The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is conducting an investigation into the incident.
