‘Imagine being dunked on by O.J.’: Infamous NFL icon rips LeBron for cop tweet, calls out media for ‘editing’ shooting incident

O.J. Simpson has turned on LeBron James after the basketball star’s incendiary tweet over the fatal police shooting of black teenager Ma’Khia Bryant in Columbus, Ohio.

Justice crusader James faced a public mauling for his misguided tweet posted in the wake of the death of Bryant, 16, who was shot by officer Nicholas Rearden as she appeared to be attempting to attack two people with a knife.

“"YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY," James ranted in a since-deleted message to his 49.6 million Twitter followers, sharing an image of Ohio officer Rearden.

That led to accusations that James was inciting mob justice and inflaming tensions even further before the incident had been fully investigated.

One man nonplussed by the NBA icon’s behavior was Simpson.

“I’m a fan of LeBron…,” Simpson began in a message issued on Twitter. “But you can't fight every battle.

“You've got to pick your battles. It's a war that must be fought, but sometimes you need to take your time and be a little more patient before you comment on some of these bad incidents that are happening with some police departments.”

The former star running back, 73, added that he was disappointed with media portrayals of the shooting in the US, claiming that some outlets had edited the footage to depict the incident in a different light.

New footage has emerged which appears to show Bryant screaming “I’m going to stab the f**k out of you, b**ch” as she lunges at a woman, before being shot multiple times.    

“I’m a little upset with most of the media, because they showed us edited versions of what took place with the girl with the knife,” Simpson said.  

“They made it sound as if this was another police officer overreacting and killing a young black American.

"What I saw when I saw the full thing, the police guy had no choice, he responded. We wish he could have pulled a taser, we wish he could have done it in another way, but in that instance, if he hadn't done what he did, it appears to me that another young American would have had her life taken."

"I can't fault what he did. I wish it were different, but I can't fault it.

“I’m against defunding the police, we just have to redirect some of those funds for better training.”

Simpson urged LeBron to “keep fighting the fight” with his efforts at eradicating racial injustice in the US, but cautioned “I think we all got to be a little more patient.”

After his initial tweet elicited widespread anger, James, 36, attempted to explain himself, writing: “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.” 

After the comments from Simpson – himself infamous as a former murder suspect – the likes of Donald Trump Jr took the chance to berate the basketball star even more.

“O.J. dunking on LeBron. Imagine how bad your take has to be to bring O.J. out for the layup!” Trump Jr goaded.