LeBron James demands action from Elon Musk after n-word usage surges by 500 per cent since Twitter takeover

LeBron James has called on Elon Musk to take action after the use of the n-word on Twitter had spiked by 500% since Musk's takeover.

And now the billionaire business mogul has responded.

A damning report from the Washington Post found that hate speech, particularly the use of the n-word has surged drastically since Musk's $44 billion takeover of social media giant Twitter.

When the findings were published, LeBron James lead the chorus of people demanding action.

LeBron tweeted: "I don't know Elon Musk and, tbh, I could care less who owns Twitter. But I will say that if this is true, I hope he and his people take this very seriously because this is scary AF. So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech."

The post went viral, racking up well over 100,000 likes on Twitter alone with a further 20,000 users sharing it.

And it seems LeBron's tweet reached its intended target too with Musk issuing a response of his own.

Musk responded to the NBA megastar by quote tweeting a post from Twitter's Head of Safety & Integrity Yoel Roth.

Roth said: "Nearly all of these accounts are inauthentic. We've taken action to ban the users involved in this trolling campaign – and are going to continue working to address this in the days to come to make Twitter safe and welcoming for everyone."

Roth's post had also been in response to a previous post from Musk, which read: "To be super clear, we have not yet made any changes to Twitter's content moderation policies."

It remains to be seen whether Twitter bosses tighten up the app's policies surrounding hate speech and use of racial slurs.

The Tesla CEO's takeover has been a hot topic since the initial announcement.

Bridget Todd, communications director at UltraViolet, a leading national gender equity and anti-disinformation organisation, condemned Musk's plans for the takeover in a press release shared on the day he took charge.

Todd commented: "At a time where violent threats, hate speech, and disinformation are continuing to spread rapidly across social media platforms, despite their best efforts to state the contrary with bogus ads, it’s clear that billionaires like Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerburg are just getting started. Musk has commented on the record that he does not believe any Twitter posts, however factually inaccurate, violent or inflammatory, should be prohibited on Twitter, so long as they are ‘legal'. His acquisition of Twitter just opened Pandora’s box.

“By purchasing Twitter, Elon Musk is poised to reopen the floodgates of widespread harassment and threats of violence, especially against Black women, women of color, and transgender people."

Featured Image Credit: Alamy

Topics: Australia, NBA, Basketball, Lebron James

Max Sherry

Max Sherry is a journalist for SPORTbible Australia. After migrating Down Under from London as a teenager, he instantly fell in love with Aussie sport and its culture. From NRL to AFL, cricket to rugby — you name it, Max watches it (with a beer in hand, of course). During his time at Fox Sports, he worked in the football department covering the Premier League, A-League, Socceroos and Matildas. Born a stone's throw away from West Ham's training ground, Max is obviously a die-hard Liverpool fan.

@maxysherry