Fox Sports host goes scorched earth on LeBron James over deleted tweet: 'Dog, you can't do this'
Fox Sports commentator Marcellus Wiley tore into NBA superstar LeBron James this week over his social media posts related to the police shooting death of 16-year-old Ma'Khia Bryant, which ignited new controversy this week over how media report officer-involved shooting deaths.
What is the background?
James incited a tsunami of backlash on Wednesday when he tweeted, and then deleted, a photo of a Columbus police officer involved in the Bryant incident, with a caption that said, "YOUR'E NEXT #accountability."
James was immediately blasted for suggesting police were wrong to defend the other girl in the Bryant incident who likely would have become a stabbing victim had police not acted.
Multiple video angles of the incident have since surfaced, contradicting the narrative that spread in the initial hours after Bryant's death. The video showed Bryant with a knife attempting to stab another person when an officer opened fire on Bryant, stopping the attack and killing her. "We know, based on this footage, the officer took action to protect another young girl in our community," Columbus Mayor Andrew Ginther said.
What did Wiley say?
Speaking on FS1's "Speak For Yourself," Wiley, himself a former NFL player, blasted James for being "irresponsible."
"Dog, you can't do this," Wiley said. "You can't be that irresponsible if you're LeBron James because you have that much power, and we all know when you get that type of power that responsibility comes with it."
Wiley said James demonstrated he wanted "to be first — not right," explaining James should have "passed in this moment."
"Emotions can't trump logic, and that's what's happening," Wiley said. "Your agenda can't go before your acumen. You can't pander before your principles."
Wiley praised James for his charitable contributions and for having a "big heart," but added, "I don't care how smart you are if you don't stop and think... LeBron James — he failed in that moment."
Wiley went on to criticize James for tweets alleging America is a "broken system." Wiley said, "The same system that is so broken, it allows you to become a billionaire and never get arrested in it — but the system is broken?" According to Wiley, James should be telling the story of "somebody who has made it ... I would love to hear that story of how you became LeBron James against all odds instead of always professing the odds are against all people."
"You gotta look before you leap — LeBron just leaped in this one because he knew his followers would catch him," Wiley continued.
Wiley went on to say, "LeBron James says 'I'm so damn tired of seeing black people killed by police.' With that platform. How about this sentence instead of that, 'I'm so damn tired of seeing black killed?' A little difference. How about this sentence, even more idealistic. 'I'm so damn tired of just seeing people killed?'"
Wiley said that, ultimately, "irresponsibility that shows in the micro makes me say be responsible about the macro."
"Like, dog, 250 black people [are] killed by police every year, that's 250 too many people. But in the macro-sense, there are 7,500 homicides to black people every year as well. I'm not saying LeBron you got that put the focus on that, fully, but let's be responsible," Wiley said. "There's 7,500 in totality that never get the discussion because the people with the platform are not highlighting that."
.@MarcellusWiley responds to LeBron's controversial tweet. https://t.co/VbEov9rW1B— Speak For Yourself (@Speak For Yourself)1619147096.0
Biden and Trump both speak to the nation as vote count continues
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and President Donald Trump both delivered speeches to the American public in the early hours of Wednesday morning, as vote tallies continued to roll in from Election Day without a victor decided.
Both candidates expressed confidence in the close race, and both held pathways to victory.
What are the details?
"We feel good about where we are, we really do," Biden told a crowd in Delaware. "I'm here to tell you tonight, I believe we're on track to win this election."
The former vice president explained, "We knew, because of the unprecedented early vote and the mail-in vote that it was going to take awhile. We're going to have to be patient until the hard work of tallying votes is finished — and it ain't over until every vote is counted, every ballot is counted."
Joe Biden speaks from Delawarewww.youtube.com
President Trump spoke following Biden from the East Room of the White House, pointing to "tremendous" wins in states called for him such as Texas, Florida, and Ohio while citing the projected numbers.
The president went on to claim, "We were getting ready to win this election. Frankly, we did win this election, so our goal now is to insure the integrity for the good of this nation — this is a very big moment — this is a major fraud on this nation."
"We want the law to be used in a proper manner," the president continued. "So, we'll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop. We don't want them to find any ballots at four o'clock in the morning and add them to the list."
You may watch Trump's speech in its entirety below. He begins speaking around the 20:00 mark:
President Trump makes a statementwww.youtube.com
At the time the president spoke, no winner had been declared in seven states: Alaska, Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Wisconsin, and Michigan. The New York Times projected at that point that Biden would likely win Nevada, and that Trump would likely take Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and Michigan. No predictions were yet available for Alaska, though most analyst expect its three electoral vote to go to Trump.
According to projections from Fox News, Biden held 238 electoral college votes to Trump's 213.