‘You’re next’: LeBron James tweet sparks online war after Derek Chauvin conviction

The guilty verdict in Derek Chauvin’s trial saw an outpouring of reaction around the world, but LeBron James has divided the room.

NBA star LeBron James targeted the Ohio cop who shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, saying, “YOU’RE NEXT” in a since-deleted tweet.

The all-world hoopster posted the message on Twitter with a photo of Columbus Police Officer Nicholas Reardon, identified as the cop who shot the 16-year-old during a domestic dispute in the Ohio city Tuesday.

“YOU’RE NEXT,” he wrote, followed by a drawing of an hourglass. “#ACCOUNTABILITY,” Fox News reported Wednesday.

LeBron James has since deleted this tweet pic.twitter.com/3DXu0qi9S8

— Weston Blasi (@westonblasi) April 22, 2021

James later deleted it, and added as a follow-up: “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!”

It sparked plenty of division online.

I had to look three times to confirm that LeBron James tweet is real.

We’re in dangerous territory, America.

— Steve Krakauer (@SteveKrak) April 21, 2021

you’re the one creating more hate in this situation, clown pic.twitter.com/Pa5EU9MWNV

— Logan Hall (@loganclarkhall) April 21, 2021

Later, he also tweeted that he took the tweet down because it was “being used to create more hate”.

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

The pointed tweet came after a jury in Minneapolis on Tuesday convicted ex-cop Derek Chauvin of murder and manslaughter in the police custody death of George Floyd.

“ACCOUNTABILITY,” James, who has long been a vocal supporter of Black Lives Matter and has spoken out on racial justice issues, tweeted after the verdict.

Authorities in Ohio said Wednesday identified Reardon as the officer who shot Bryant, and said that state investigators are now probing the incident.

Police bodycam footage released by Columbus officials shows Bryant scuffling with two other girls, and lunges at one of them with what appears to be a knife in her hand.

That’s when Reardon is seen firing four rounds, dropping the teen to the ground mortally wounded. She later died at a local hospital.

This story first appeared in the New York Post and was republished with permission.