(NewsNation Now) — Lebron James is trying to steer the conversation in a new direction after receiving backlash over his now-deleted tweet about the police officer that shot and killed Ohio teen Ma’Khia Bryant.
“I fueled the wrong conversation about Ma’Khia Bryant and I owe it to her and this movement to change it, James wrote via Twitter.
Recently, the Los Angeles Protective League asked the NBA to launch a formal investigation into the basketball star for his Bryant tweet. An Ohio bar owner even vowed to not play any NBA games until James is “expelled.”
Now, in a new tweet, James linked to a Vox article about Bryant not being the perfect victim and how, as the 16-year-old was reportedly wielding a knife, there is a lot of “victim blaming” in this situation.
Columbus officer Nicholas Reardon shot Bryant four times on April 20, and the 16-year-old died from her injuries. Bodycam video of the shooting appeared to show Bryant swinging a knife toward another person before Reardon opened fire.
The shots were fired within minutes of former police officer Derek Chauvin being found guilty of murdering George Floyd.
James’ now-deleted tweet showed a photo of the officer involved in the Columbus shooting with a caption that said “You’re next #ACCOUNTABILITY.”
He later deleted the tweet and explained his reasoning for removing it, saying it was being used to spread hate.
The teen’s shooting remains under investigation.
NewsNation affiliate WJW contributed to this report.