Senator Ted Cruz (R, TX) unleashed harsh criticisms of LeBron James on Wednesday, blasting the NBA star for tweeting a picture of one of the officers present at the shooting of Ma’Khia Bryant.
Cruz called James’ since-deleted tweet “grossly irresponsible,” claiming that someone could have interpreted the post as a call for “violence” against the officer.
LeBron James came under intense fire after he posted a pic of a police officer present at the Ma’Khia Bryant shooting with a caption that read, “YOU’RE NEXT.”
A screengrab of the deleted tweet remains.
“The left consistently goes after, attacks and demonizes police officers … often before the facts are known, often before there is any evidence of what happened,” Cruz told Fox News Primetime, “but their immediate reaction, whenever there is an incident, is that police officers is in the wrong.
“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 specifically noted that James completely ignored the fact that Bryant was attacking another woman with a knife.
“By any measure, it was a volatile situation,” the senator said. “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.”
Cruz added, “The facts should be determined, but the left doesn’t care about the facts, they care about demonizing and attacking law enforcement, and I think it’s wrong.”
Later Wednesday evening, James returned to Twitter to attempt to explain his motivation for deleting the post.
“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,” he wrote.
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
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
The NBA has not said whether James will face any discipline for his actions.
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