Donald Trump Jr shares fake LeBron James quote about Ma'Khia Bryant, fact-checked and censored by Instagram
Los Angeles Lakers’ LeBron James has been in the eye of the storm following his tweet about the police officer who shot and killed 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant. James shared on Twitter, and later deleted, a photo of the officer and declared, "You’re next. #ACCOUNTABILITY." And while James’ tweet has been called a threat by many, Donald Trump Jr seems to have reacted in a way that went a bit too far.
The son of former US President Donald Trump shared a fake quote attributed to James and consequently was censored by Instagram. Journalist Aaron Rupar shared a screenshot of Trump Jr’s Instagram story, writing: “Don Jr posted a fake LeBron quote and this is what his Instagram story now looks like.”
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Don Jr posted a fake LeBron quote and this is what his Instagram story now looks like pic.twitter.com/WuAWl7xGSE
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 25, 2021
The fake quote read: “We’re at the point where a girl can’t even stab her friends anymore.” Trump Jr shared the quote as a post as well. He captioned it, “*Probably. But I mean seriously… Some of my fondest childhood memories were in one-sided knife fights where only I had a knife… #AmIRight *For the fact checkers this is a parody and not to be taken seriously!!! Though, if you listen to him it sounds more plausible than not... at least to me.”
Trump Jr also complained about the fact check in another Instagram Story, saying, “So I get a fact check on a post removed and I post about it because I was very clear that the post was a parody and they fact check me on the story talking about getting the original fact check cleared from 3 different ‘fact checkers’ who very clearly didn’t actually read the post. Thanks Instagram.”
Trump Jr’s father also commented on James. In a statement released on April 22, Trump said, "LeBron James should focus on basketball rather than presiding over the destruction of the NBA, which has just recorded the lowest television RATINGS, by far, in the long and distinguished history of the league."
He also called James racist and divisive. "His RACIST rants are divisive, nasty, insulting, and demeaning. He may be a great basketball player, but he is doing nothing to bring our Country together," Trump said.
On Tuesday, April 20, in Columbus, Ohio, a police officer fatally shot Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl. Body-camera footage showed Officer Nicholas Reardon, who was responding to a 911 call, arriving at the scene, with several people engaged in a heated fight, outside Bryant’s foster home.
As the officer got out of his vehicle, Bryant was seen lunging at a woman with what appeared to be a knife in her hand. Soon after, she lunged at another woman. Officer Reardon pulled out his gun and fired four quick shots, killing Bryant. The Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation is reportedly conducting a third-party investigation.