An Idaho cop mocked LeBron James in a viral video and was suspended after complaints

Last week, LeBron James posted and then deleted a tweet containing a photo of the police officer who shot and killed Ma’Khia Bryant along with the message “YOU’RE NEXT” Even if you put aside the obvious problem that having a big star send this out to millions of people endangered the officer’s safety, the problem remains that LeBron was assuming the shooting itself was an injustice that required sanction or punishment. But a lot of people simply don’t think that’s the case.

Advertisement

One deputy marshal in Idaho named Nate Silvester decided to make a satirical video mocking LeBron’s response. It quickly went viral on Tik Tok and was viewed over 4 million times. I think they call this a clap back.

But while many people clearly liked the clip (Silvester has said the response has been favorable by about 100 to 1) there was still a backlash. Silvester was suspended from his job and his employer released a statement acknowledging complaints and agreeing he was out of line.

The Bellevue Marshal’s Office is aware of the extreme controversy regarding Deputy Marshal Silvester’s viral TikTok. The statements made do NOT represent the Bellevue Marshal’s Office. The Bellevue Marshal’s Office always demands that our Deputies engage with our citizens in a friendly and professional manner. This is NOT how we expect our Deputies to act on duty or use city time. This is a personnel issue that is being dealt with internally.

As far as Silvester using city time to film this, he says he filmed it during a break and was not taking any time away from his duties.

After he was suspended, Silvester’s best friend launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise a few thousands dollars to cover the loss of income from the suspension. That effort has now raised more than $120,000. Silvester has promised to donate some of the money to a charity which supports children who have lost first responder parents in the line of duty. More recently he has said he plans to use the money to help push back against some of the messages that appear in the media about police officers.

Advertisement

Here’s Silvester’s latest response thanking people for the fundraising campaign and promising he’ll be making more content to support police officers. I have no doubt the left is going to do its level best to get this guy fired with all of their usual subtlety, but I bet a lot of police officers, including ones he works with, support what he said.

Silvester isn’t the only officer who has gotten in trouble for commenting on the Bryant shooting. An officer in Washington, DC was investigated after he responded to a man who asked “Are y’all gonna kill me like Ma’Khia Bryant?” The officer replied, “Are you going to stab somebody like her?” Some NSFW language in this clip.

Join the conversation as a VIP Member

Trending on HotAir Videos

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement