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Conservative Commentator Candace Owens Calls LeBron James 'Pea-Brained'

Candace Owens tweeted that LeBron James is "pea-brained" for saying that Black men are being hunted.
Melissa Rohlin|
Conservative Commentator Candace Owens Calls LeBron James 'Pea-Brained'
Conservative Commentator Candace Owens Calls LeBron James 'Pea-Brained'

After a gunman shot two Los Angeles County sheriff's deputies multiple times on Saturday in what's being described as an ambush, conservative commentator Candace Owens took to Twitter to blame LeBron James' words for inciting the incident. 

"Why does this happen?" Owens tweeted Sunday. "Because pea-brained celebrities that are idolized like @KingJames tell young black men that they are “literally being hunted”. This is the natural result of such hyperbolic, dishonest rhetoric. The racist, anti-police, black lives matter LIE is to blame."

Owens was referencing a tweet that James wrote in May after a 25-year-old Black man named Ahmaud Arbery was gunned down by two white men Feb. 23 while he was on a jog near his home in Brunswick, Georgia.

"We’re literally hunted EVERYDAY/EVERYTIME we step foot outside the comfort of our homes!" James tweeted May 6. "Can’t even go for a damn jog man! Like WTF man are you kidding me?!?!?!?!?!? No man fr ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!! I’m sorry Ahmaud (Rest In Paradise) and my prayers and blessings sent to the heavens above to your family!! #StayWoke #ProfiledCauseWeAreSimplyBlack."

James has been very vocal against social injustice, often using his massive platform of a combined 119 million followers on Twitter and Instagram to denounce racism and police brutality. 

Since arriving in the NBA bubble at Walt Disney World in Florida in June for the resumed season, he's spoken out against multiple recent shootings of Black men and women. 

He's demanded justice for Breonna Taylor, a 26-year-old Black woman who was shot by three police officers in her apartment on March 13 in Louisville, KY. He's worn a shirt in honor of George Floyd, a 46-year-old Black man who died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for nearly nine minutes on May 25 in Minneapolis, MN. And he spoke out against the shooting of Jacob Blake, a 29-year-old Black man who was shot in the back by police officers multiple times on Aug. 23 in Kenosha, WI.

"Quite frankly, it’s just f---ed up in our community," James said Aug. 24, the day after Blake was shot. "And I know people get tired of hearing me say it, but we are scared as Black people in America. Black men, Black women, Black kids, we are terrified. Because you don’t know. You have no idea. You have no idea how that cop that day left the house.

"You don’t know if he woke up on this side of the bed, you don’t know if he woke up on the wrong side of the bed, you don’t know if he had an argument at home with his significant other, you don’t know if one of his kids said something to him and he left the house steaming. Or maybe he just left the house saying that today is going to be the end for one of these Black people. That’s what it feels like. That’s what it feels like. It just hurts. It hurts."

James, who has led the Lakers to the Western Conference Finals for the first time in 10 years, has advocated for people to make their voices heard and affect change with their vote. 

In June, he helped found the nonprofit More Than A Vote to end Black voter suppression. 

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Melissa Rohlin
MELISSA ROHLIN

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