Officer Fired for Mocking LeBron James Says He Is a 'Target of Cancel Culture'

The Idaho police officer who was fired after his video mocking LeBron James went viral now says that he is another target of the left-wing cancel culture.

“I am the latest target of cancel culture. That’s all it is,” former Bellevue, Idaho, deputy marshal Nate Silvester told Fox News host Sean Hannity on Thursday.

In April, Officer Silvester made national news after his viral TikTok video slamming NBA star LeBron James for getting involved in police work. 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.

In his viral video, officer Silvester — who is seen in uniform and sitting in his squad car — pretended to have a phone conversation with a black person threatening to stab someone.

“So, you don’t care if a black person kills another black person, but you do care if a white cop kills a black person, even if he’s doing it to save the life of another black person?” Silvester said in the video.

“I mean, it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but then again, you are really good at basketball, so I guess I’ll take your word for it,” he said, adding #humanizethebadge in the social media post.

As soon as the video came to the attention of Silvester’s employer, the Bellevue Marshal’s Office, the department accused Silvester of sparking an “extreme controversy” and said that it was reviewing the matter “internally.” Several weeks later, Silvester was fired.

Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns insisted that Silvester was fired for several violations of department policy and not just the TikTok video, but Silvester disagrees. He said that no past violations of policy were ever given much notice until the video came out.

“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 said to Fox’s Hannity.

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