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Lebron James turns MAGA hat into justice message on Breonna Taylor, Internet says 'focus on basketball first'

James and other Lakers wore a red-colored hat that read, 'Make America Great Again arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor' along with a t-shirt that read 'By Any Means'

Known for making bold statements, LeBron Jones once again made an impact on Tuesday's Los Angeles vs Portland Timbers' soccer match. Before Game 1 of the series on August 18, James and his teammates made a major social justice statement.

Riffing off the MAGA red hat theme, James and other Lakers wore a red-colored hat that read, "Make America Great Again arrest the cops who killed Breonna Taylor." Not just that, James also wore a t-shirt with the words "By Any Means" printed on it. He later posted a picture with the 'MAGA' hat on Instagram with the caption, "By Any Means Let's Get It #JusticeForBreonnaTaylor."

From megastars to his fans, everyone started reacting to his Instagram post, with Justin Timberlake saying, "The hat." A user pointed out the cause and commented, "JUSTICE FOR BREANNA TAYLOR HOW LONG WOULD ITS TAKE, YEARS AND YEAR OR NOW," to which another user replied, "your good but I recommend finding the full story."

One user commended the initiative and said, "NOW THIS IS HOW YOU USE YOUR PLATFORM FOR POSITIVE CHANGE," and another one said, "I love everything you represent and how you use your platform #inspiration." Some even said that he is the "Greatest of all times" as one user commented, "GOAT"

Soon, the pictures made it to twitter and people started slamming the Lakers performance in the ongoing matches. One user said, "Lakers have been playing like crap since the szn restarted, so maybe him and his teammates & the rest of the league for that matter need to focus more on playing basketball as opposed to making social injustice & political statements when they're working Make Sports Great Again."

Another said, "Lebron....dude just play basketball. It’s playoff time in the game that’s allowed you to have a voice in this world so focus on that first and trying to become Kanye after."

Some talked about the cause: "Why aren’t they in jail yet? Nothing will happen to them. If it hasn’t yet, it won’t. We can chirp all we want. Love the tho." Another one said, "In my opinion, it’s about the message ..I’m not a fan of the hat either, but when someone with that type of platform wants to use it to convey that message it seems counterproductive to focus on how the hat looks"

Breonna Taylor was a 26-year-old African American EMT (emergency medical technician) who was shot dead by Louisville Metro Police Department (LMPD) officers Jonathan Mattingly, Brett Hankison and Myles Cosgrove on March 13, 2020. She was killed at her own house after LMPD officers entered her residence as part of an investigation related to narcotics.

According to a BBC report, Police said they knocked before using a battering ram to enter the home, though this account has been disputed by Taylor's family and a neighbor. The officers exchanged fire with Mr Walker, a licensed gun owner who called 911 because he thought that the drug raid was actually a burglary. The police officers fired more than 25 bullets and said they returned fire after one officer was shot and wounded. This incident happened three weeks after Ahmaud Arbery was killed by white vigilantes while jogging on February 23, 2020. Just after 10 weeks, George Floyd lost his life after an arrest on May 25.