Yahoo Sport 
LeBron James Faces Backlash For Twitter Warning To Ohio Officer Who Shot Black Teen
LeBron James drew backlash on Wednesday over a tweet he later deleted about the police shooting of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.
The Los Angeles Lakers star posted a photograph of Nicholas Reardon, the white Ohio police officer identified as having fatally shot the Black teen while responding to reports of an attempted stabbing.
“YOU’RE NEXT,” James wrote, alongside an emoji of an hourglass.
He captioned the tweet with the hashtag, #ACCOUNTABILITY ― echoing his single-word tweet responding to Tuesday’s conviction of former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin for the murder of George Floyd.
Police say Bryant appeared to threaten two other girls with a knife before being shot. Body camera footage appears to show Bryant lunging at one person and swiping at another. That characterization of events has been called into question by the teen’s family.
James later deleted his tweet, offering this explanation:
ANGER does any of us any good and that includes myself! Gathering all the facts and educating does though! My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail! 🙏🏾✊🏾🤎👑
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 21, 2021
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
Related...
Derek Chauvin Is Being Held In Solitary Confinement For 23 Hours A Day
Columbus Officer Who Killed 16-Year-Old Ma'Khia Bryant Identified
Grim List Of Deaths At Police Hands Grows After Chauvin Verdict
Also on HuffPost
This article originally appeared on HuffPost and has been updated.
