On Tuesday, NBA superstar and avid left-wing activist LeBron James emphatically stated that he has “zero comment” regarding Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva’s challenge to the multi-millionaire to match the reward money in the case concerning two ambushed sheriff’s deputies in Compton.
James was pressed by a reporter about the challenge from Sheriff Villanueva on Tuesday, ten days after the two sheriff’s deputies — a 31-year-old female and a 24-year-old male — were shot in an unprovoked, ambush-style attack.
“The pair were sitting in their parked vehicle outside of a train station when they were approached by a suspect who opened fire without apparent cause, leaving the two deputies severely wounded,” The Daily Wire reported.
“This challenge is to LeBron James,” Villanueva said. “I want you to match that and double that reward because I know you care about law enforcement. You expressed a very interesting statement on race relations and officer-involved shootings and the impact it has on the African American community. And I appreciate that.”
“I have zero comment on the sheriff,” James told the press on Tuesday.
As noted by ESPN, James reacted to the shooting on Sunday, post-game.
“We don’t want anyone to be injured. We don’t want anyone to be hurt,” the athlete told Spectrum SportsNet’s Mike Trudell. “My condolences go out to the officers that were shot in Los Angeles. And we want justice for that, as well as we want justice for Breonna Taylor, and so on and so on. We don’t want no violence. We preach for the better of love and peace. Hopefully we can get that at some point in our communities—but [to achieve it as] us as a nation because that’s what’s going to make us the greatest nation again. All peace and all love.”
Additionally on Tuesday, following a Lakers loss, James emphasized that he does not condone violence, while also blasting officers for allegedly racially profiling black people.
“I’ve never in my 35 years ever condoned violence. Never have. But I also know what’s right is right, and what’s wrong is wrong,” he said, according to ESPN. “I grew up in the inner city in a black community in what we called the hood or the ghetto. … I’ve seen a lot of counts firsthand of a lot of black people being … racially profiled because of our color. And I’ve seen it throughout my whole life.”
“And I’m not saying that all cops are bad because,” he continued, “I actually — throughout high school and things of that nature, and I’m around them all the time, and they’re not all bad. But when you see the videos that’s going on and you can see all over the — not only my hometown but all over America — you continue to see the acts of violence toward my kind, I can’t do nothing but to speak about it and see the common denominator.”
“But not one time have I ever said, ‘Let’s act violent toward cops,'” James added. “I just said that what’s going on in our community is not OK, and we fear for that, and we fear for our lives. It’s something that we go on every single day as a black man and a black woman and a black kid, a black girl. We fear. We fear that moment when we’re pulled over.”
Related: Candace Owens Calls Out LeBron James, BLM For Anti-Cop Rhetoric After L.A. Sheriff Ambush