The Idaho deputy marshal who lost his job after mocking NBA star LeBron James in a TikTok video was offered a position with the Pinal County Sheriff’s Office during a recent television interview.
“Nate Silvester, a former police officer with the Bellevue Marshal’s Office in Idaho, was fired after the video made its rounds on social media platforms,” Law Enforcement Today reported Friday.
During a recent interview on Newsmax, Silvester spoke about losing his job after posting the clip online, saying he policed a “very liberal area, the city of Bellevue, Idaho”:
“The mayor and city council members are registered Democrats and they buy into this radicalism that’s being pushed by the left and especially the anti-police narrative, they’re buying into it totally. And so when that LeBron James video went viral, they weren’t happy about it,” he explained.
Moments later, Sheriff Mark Lamb said, “Too many agencies across this country are afraid of the cancel culture. They’re afraid to let their people speak truth. We respect the First Amendment, even with our employees.”
“We’re hiring, Nate. Come on down. We respect police in Arizona, especially in Pinal County. We’re always looking for guys who aren’t afraid to go out and do their job. It took guts, what Nate did,” Lamb added.
In April, Silvester made headlines for his video slamming James, Breitbart News reported.
“James was attacked by many — including Silvester — for posting a photo of a white cop with the caption ‘You’re next.’ The NBA star soon deleted the image and gave a non-apology apology for having posted it,” the outlet said.
Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns claimed Silvester was fired over several violations of department policy, not just for the video. However, Silvester disagreed and said no previous violations of policy were given a lot of notice until the video was shared.
“None of my other videos that depicted me in my uniform or involving body camera footage, none of those mattered. They didn’t care about those. It wasn’t until my LeBron James TikTok struck a political nerve that they started to pay attention and complain about it and came up with forms of discipline,” he explained.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.