A Cincinnati-area bar owner looking to have an Ohio-born NBA star literally cancelled over tweets about systemic policing problems now has gone private.
Jay Linneman, who owns Linnie’s Pub in Delhi Township, reacted strongly on Facebook after former Cleveland Cavaliers/current Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James shared a now-deleted tweet targeted at the Columbus police officer who last week allegedly shot and killed 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant.
“If anyone wants to watch an NBA game, don't come to Linnie's Pub. We will not air them until Lebron [sic] James has been expelled from the NBA,” Linneman posted to his personal Facebook account, which is linked from his bar's website.
The post, which was still up as of Monday afternoon, now has either been deleted or set to private.
But James responded to the ban on Twitter.
Aww Damn! I was headed there to watch our game tonight and have a drink! Welp. 🥴 https://t.co/RRfRksjckM
— LeBron James (@KingJames) April 24, 2021
Last week, Columbus Police identified Nicholas Reardon, who is white, as the officer who allegedly shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant, who was Black, when responding to a 911 call about someone being threatened. Since the shooting, both police and bystanders have released recordings from around that time, which was shortly before a jury in Minneapolis found Derek Chauvin, another white former police officer, guilty of second-degree unintentional murder, third-degree murder and second-degree manslaughter in the death of George Floyd, who was Black.
“YOU'RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY,” James had tweeted with a photo of Reardon shortly after news of the Columbus shooting began spreading.
James deleted that tweet soon after, tweeting Wednesday, “ANGER does (not do) any of us any good and that includes myself! Gathering all the facts and educating does though! My anger still is here for what happened that lil girl. My sympathy for her family and may justice prevail!”
“I’m so damn tired of seeing Black people killed by police. I took the tweet down because its being used to create more hate -This isn’t about one officer. it’s about the entire system and they always use our words to create more racism. I am so desperate for more ACCOUNTABILITY,” James continued in a separate tweet.
Police increasingly are under scrutiny for disproportionately lethal actions against Black people and members of other non-white communities.
Linneman, the Delhi bar owner, had posted several right-leaning, pro-police items in recent days, including a video by Candace Owens, a vocal Black supporter of former U.S. President Donald Trump who criticizes the Black Lives Matter movement and repeatedly peddles misinformation.
He also shared a video from Nate Silvester, an officer with the Marshal’s Office in Bellevue, Idaho, who creates pro-police content. In the video that Linneman had shared, Silvester sits in his squad car and asks an imaginary person outside the camera’s view to put down their knife. He then pretends that James is advising him on the phone based on the knife-wielder being Black or white.
“OK, well, they’re both Black. One guy is trying to stab another guy with a knife. Deadly force is completely justified,” Silvester tells “James,” pausing before responding again. “So, you don’t care if a Black person kills another Black person, but you do care if a white cop kills a Black person, even if he’s doing it to save the life of another Black person?”
As of Tuesday morning, Linneman had either deleted all of these shared items from his Facebook page or set them to private, along with his demand for the NBA to "expell" James.
In the meantime, James — a four-time NBA champion, successful businessman and developer of a STEM-based school for disadvantaged children in Akron, where he'd grown up — just saw his 2003-2004 Upper Deck rookie card sell for $5.2 million.
