Of course, he deleted it only after the evidence made him look like an idiot (via ESPN):
Body camera footage released by the Columbus Division of Police showed the officer, identified Wednesday as Reardon, getting out of his car at a house where police had been dispatched after someone had called 911 saying they were being physically threatened.
As the officer walks toward a group of people on the driveway, Bryant can be seen swinging a knife wildly at another girl or woman, who falls backward. The officer shouts several times to get down. Bryant then charges at another girl or woman, who is pinned against a car.
From a few feet away, with people on either side of him, the officer fires four shots, and Bryant slumps to the ground. The knife lies on the sidewalk next to her.
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
LeBron James now-deleted tweet targets officer in Ohio police shooting: ‘YOU’RE NEXT’ https://t.co/0yltziWdXk
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 21, 2021
James later tweeted:
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
And now Mr. Wiley enters the chat. He noted this is what happens when you want to be first and not right.
.@MarcellusWiley responds to LeBron’s controversial tweet. pic.twitter.com/VbEov9rW1B
— Speak For Yourself (@SFY) April 23, 2021
“He should have passed in this moment,” Wiley said until all the evidence was hashed out because as you can see, he was made to look like a total idiot about this incident. Wait for all the facts to be revealed and then take your shot. It’s that simple.
“Emotions can’t trump logic…your agenda cannot go before your acumen, “Wiley added. He noted there is an immense responsibility James holds with his social media activity. He has a following—and this was outright abuse. Of course, he adds what he has done regarding charity outweighs the bad, but he also noted that Lebron has messed up a lot when politicking on these platforms.
“I don’t care how smart you are if you don’t stop and think, LeBron James—he failed in that moment,” said Wiley. He understands the need to react first, but Wiley notes who in the hell is reacting to this situation any differently now that the video has been released, adding the officer rushed into an impossible situation where he needed to take a life in order to save another.
Wiley then takes LeBron’s talking points to task saying he does not agree with the NBA star about us living in two separate Americas. They’re different for sure, but the division he feels is overexaggerated. LeBron said he’s scared to leave his house. Wiley wasn’t having any of it. He’s a black man and totally unafraid to walk around like any other American citizen—and he added he’s not LeBron James. He then rags on LeBron ragging about “the system.”
“The same system that’s so broken it allowed you to become a billionaire and never get arrested in it,” retorted Wiley. The former NFL player had a simple tweak to LeBron’s social media activity: how about telling your story, or stories of other people who have endured hardship and made it.
