Share
Commentary

LeBron James Attacks Rittenhouse for Crying, It Immediately Backfires: 'You Cried Because You Got a Cramp'

Share

LeBron James should have just sat this one out.

With much of the country riveted by the trial of Kyle Rittenhouse, the loud-mouthed NBA superstar decided to weigh in last month to accuse Rittenhouse of faking an emotional breakdown while testifying in his own defense.

It backfired on LeBron — badly.

In a tweet published on Nov. 10, after Rittenhouse’s riveting testimony was over, the Los Angeles Lakers star — a man who plays basketball for a living — apparently decided the country absolutely needed to hear his opinion of what was taking place in Judge Bruce Schroeder’s courtroom.

He wasn’t sympathetic to the defendant, an 18-year-old who at the time was facing murder charges for shooting three men who attacked him during the riots in Kenosha, Wisconsin, last year, killing two of them.

Trending:
KJP Panics, Hangs Up in Middle of Interview When Reporter Shows He Isn't a Democratic Party Propagandist

Responding to a USA Today report that the 18-year-old Rittenhouse had broken down “in tears,” James suggested it was all an act.

“What tears????? I didn’t see one,” he wrote. “Man knock it off! That boy ate some lemon heads before walking into court.”

Even amid the liberal garbage that makes up most of Twitter conversation these days, the tweet was a failure.

James’ own history doesn’t support him. From his senseless attack this spring on the Columbus, Ohio, police officer who saved a young black woman’s life to James’ contemptible silence in the face of totalitarian tactics by the NBA’s sponsors in the Chinese communist dictatorship (even while other NBA players are speaking up), it’s safe to say James has forfeited any kind of moral high ground when it comes to commenting on current events.

Twitter users let him know it:

Related:
NBA Player Shows Stunning Way God Moved After He Collapsed on Court

More than a few of the responders also noted James’ own longstanding reputation for flopping on the court to draw a foul. (As that “you got a cramp” post above notes, James’ fortitude in the face of injuries has also come under question.)

Considering the Rittenhouse prosecution became a cause célèbre among liberals — a rare case where leftists actually wanted an accused criminal to be convicted and imprisoned — and considering the likely political slant of most of James’ social media followers, the number of James critics was impressive compared with those applauding his tweet.

The reality is that any honest American who followed the case since it started on Aug. 25, 2020, knew Rittenhouse was acting in self-defense when he was chased and attacked by a mob on the streets of Kenosha.

Anyone who followed the trial beyond the misleading headlines of the mainstream media knew that the prosecution’s case was weak as water from the beginning.

Do you think the Rittenhouse prosecution is based on politics?

Anyone who caught even part of Rittenhouse’s testimony, under the vindictively flailing cross-examination by Kenosha County Assistant District Attorney Thomas Bissinger, knew the prosecution in the case was relying more on smearing the defendant’s character than proving legal guilt.

Clearly, James was on board with that. Rittenhouse, after all, was on the wrong side in Kenosha that night, from James and other progressives’ point of view:

He was a young, white man trying to protect private property from destruction by a Black Lives Matter mob. He was trying to render medical aid to those who needed it. And he was armed with an AR-15 to protect himself in the middle of a dangerous situation.

But no matter how he felt, Lebron didn’t need to involve himself at the late stage of the trial.

A glance at his Twitter account shows he hadn’t felt compelled to comment on it at that stage, so it’s an open question of whether he knew anything about it or was simply reacting to leftist pressures. In any case, it came off as stunning foolish.

The Rittenhouse saga was already a national disgrace of political prosecution and misguided mob instinct.

And LeBron just had to pile on.

Truth and Accuracy

Submit a Correction →



We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.

Tags:
, , , , , , , ,
Share
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He's been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn't need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American




Conversation