LeBron James urges Elon Musk to look into 'scary AF' rise in racism on Twitter

NBA superstar LeBron James has urged Elon Musk to look into the 'scary AF' rise in racism - which appears to have increased since Musk completed his takeover of the social media site earlier this week.

The South African billionaire now owns Twitter after a long and drawn-out negotiation that lasted months. Musk is aiming to encourage more 'free speech' on the website and has already fired many of Twitter's top executives.

However, this encouragement of free speech has reportedly seen an escalation in racial slurs, with the use of the n-word said to have shot up by 500 per cent, as per TheWashington Post.

In response to the story 37-year-old James, who plays for the Los Angeles Lakers tweeted on Saturday: "I dont 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."

Sign up to our new free Indy100 weekly newsletter

The Space Jam actor added: "So many damn unfit people saying hate speech is free speech."

Musk responded to James by sharing a tweet by Yoel Roth, head of strategy and integrity at Twitter who said that: "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."

Although he has encouraged free speech, Musk shared a messaged directed at advertisers attempting to reassure them that Twitter could not become a "free-for-all hellscape."

The SpaceX and Tesla founder wrote: "There is currently a great danger that social media will splinter into far right wing and far left wing echo chambers that generate more hate and divide our society.

"In the relentless pursuit of clicks, much of traditional media has fueled and catered to those polarized extremes, as they believe that is what brings in the money, but, in doing so, the opportunity for dialogue is lost.

"That said, Twitter cannot become a free-for-all hellscape, where anything can be said without consequences! In addition to adhering to the laws of the land, our platform must be warm and welcoming to all, where you can choose your desired experience according to your preferences, just as you can choose, for example, to see movies or play video games ranging from all ages to mature."

Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.