Did LeBron James say, "We're at the point where a girl can't even stab her friends anymore"? No, that's not true. This is a made-up quote from satirical website The Glorious American. Social media accounts picked up the quote as real in the aftermath of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant's fatal shooting by police in Columbus, Ohio.
The claim appeared as a Facebook post (archived here) on April 22, 2021. It opened:
He's such a POS
This is what the post looked like on Facebook on April 22, 2021:
(Source: Facebook screenshot taken on Thu Apr 22 22:42:04 2021 UTC)
The meme on the Facebook post showed a picture of basketball star James in front of a Los Angeles Lakers sign. The caption read, "LeBron: 'We're At The Point Where A Girl Can't Even Stab Her Friends Anymore.'"
The Glorious American website has a header that clearly states it is a satirical website, reading "Satire For The Right. And The Wrong."
The article is obviously farcical but many social media users thought the quote was real. From The Glorious American:
With the country in disarray, Americans continue to turn to famed basketball dribbler and notable high school graduate LeBron James. Following an exhausting Lakers practice filled with gender pronoun drills and watching film (CNN), James issued a sobering reminder of how far this country has fallen in the wake of Donald Trump:
"Ya know, it's getting to the point where a girl can't even stab her friends anymore," James said to his adoring media. "When Obama was running the show, the police would say 'freeze!' and that meant you had one last chance to settle a score with a knife. I mean, did the great Dr. X teach us nothing?"
Because of the recent events, LeBron and the Lakers have publicly changed their goal from winning the NBA championship to tainting the national jury pool so that all police who prevent stabbings are found guilty.
"It's a huge opportunity for me personally," James said. "I have every single sports employee at ESPN and TNT doing and saying exactly what I want. So now I move to each and every citizen.
Update: In a related story, LeBron will miss the next few weeks due to white supremacy.
In reality, James had posted and deleted a tweet, archived here, with a photograph of officer Nicholas Reardon. It said, ""YOU'RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY," and had an hourglass emoji.
In a series of tweets he explained why he posted and deleted the message.
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
