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LeBron James Criticized for Tweet Supporting Browns QB Deshaun Watson

LeBron James caught some major heat on Sunday after he tweeted support for Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson.

“Yessir D Watson!! Another one,” James said in a tweet. “That boy getting his rhythm back!” 

James, who is from Akron, Ohio, grew up a Cowboys fan but in October made it clear he was changing his NFL allegiance to support the Browns because of Dallas owner Jerry Jones’s handling of players kneeling for the national anthem. But James’s outspoken support of Watson doesn’t exactly give him the moral high ground. 

In the span of a year-plus, a total of 26 civil complaints were filed against Watson, graphically describing allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Plaintiffs say the incidents occurred during massage therapy sessions, when he exhibited behavior that NFL commissioner Roger Goodell described as “egregious” and “predatory.” Criminal complaints were filed against him, but two Texas grand juries declined to charge him this spring.

For James to tweet such outspoken admiration for Watson didn’t sit well with a lot of observers on social media. Here are some of their reactions: