LeBron James is catching some heat on social media after he tweeted out his support for Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.
James is one of the greatest basketball players of all time, and to some, one of the greatest human beings in the world as far as celebrities go.
The all-time leader in total points has built a legacy not for his accolades on the court and his contributions to speaking out for social justice and his humanitarianism.
So many fans on X, formerly known as Twitter, found it quite unexpected that LeBron was tweeting in support of Watson as he was playing on Sunday against the Tennessee Titans.
“Yessir D Watson!! Another one,” James said in a tweet. “That boy getting his rhythm back!”
Some social media fans, who are still sour about Watson’s past sexual assault allegations levied by numerous massage therapists, questioned why LeBron is publicly supporting Deshaun Watson.
One fan posted:
“My son is a huge fan of you.. he no longer will be supporting you after this tweet.” One fan tweeted in response to Bron. “Supporting Watson is no message you should be sending to the young kids out there. What’s next you will tweet about R Kelly?”
Another fan tweeted, “You stopped being a Cowboys fan because of Jerry Jones but you are now actively rooting for Deshaun Watson!?”
But, to state the obvious, LeBron is from Akron, Ohio, and obviously, the Cleveland Browns are his home team, although he has publicly been a Dallas Cowboys fan for some time.
But last year LeBron came out and admitted that he was no longer a Cowboys fan after the issues going on with Cowboys’ owner Jerry Jones and the organization going against teams kneeling for the national anthem.
Fans Remember Watson’s Legal Troubles
Now with Bron ostensibly back being a Browns fan, reverting his allegiance to his home team, the next obvious answer to why fans are taking issue with Bron showing support for Watson is because of the troubles and allegations Watson faced recently before he was finally allowed to play football again.
Deshaun Watson had 26 civil complaints filed against him, all of them referencing his attempt at pushing his sexual advances on women when he would receive massage therapy sessions, the allegations claiming sexual harassment and sexual assault. Criminal complaints were filed against him, but two Texas grand juries chose not to indict him.
Plenty of fans took to X to comment under his post to chastise him for his comments supporting Watson, who had a stellar game, throwing for two touchdowns and 289 yards, and only missed six of his passes in going 27-for-33.
LeBron probably just wanted to support another athlete showing out in Cleveland, but fans didn’t see it that way. And to some degree, Bron knows that any support for Watson will leave himself open to criticism. He’s too methodical and calculated not to.
Sometimes Words Can Get You Caught Up
There are plenty of athletes who have gotten themselves thrown into a social media mosh pit of attacks by way of letting their intrusive thoughts out on social media or rooting for the wrong person, at the wrong time.
Bron is just another example, and the latest at that, of what can happen when social media doesn’t agree with you.
Superstar Kevin Durant was found to be using and defending himself against randoms on Twitter at the time back in 2017.
Antonio Brown was chastised by social media and teammates for going live during Mike Tomlin’s speech about the New England Patriots which was seen as a personal thing that Brown broadcasted to the world in 2017 as well.
But most infamously, Lakers guard D’Angelo Russell posted and exposed his ex-teammate Nick Young while he was cheating on his then-fiancée Iggy Azalea back in 2016.
Those were all different incidents in which athletes had gotten in trouble via social media for doing the wrong thing, but Bron won’t be seeing this backlash too much longer. First, there is no canceling LeBron, and, second, people will eventually get over this when the basketball season begins and they start their GOAT debates.
