A police officer in Idaho has become an internet star after recently posting a TikTok video mocking LeBron James after the basketball legend issued a since-deleted tweet about the death of 16-year-old Ma’Khia Bryant in Ohio last week, who was shot and killed by police as she attempted to stab another female.
James, a star player for the Los Angeles Lakers, had tweeted “YOU’RE NEXT #ACCOUNTABILITY” last week, along with a photograph of the officer that allegedly shot Bryant; many saw the move on the NBA star’s part as using his clout with his many fans to potentially target the law enforcement officer for violence. The tweet was later deleted.
Nate Silvester, an officer in the Marshal’s Office in Bellevue, posted a video skit on TikTok criticizing James’ original tweet.
While sitting in the driver’s seat of his police cruiser, Silvester pretends to be calling into dispatch with a request for LeBron James to call him on his cell phone “right away,” and then unrolls his window and asks a pretend knife-wielding suspect “can you please put the knife down? Sir, don’t stab him.”
Silvester cuts his pleas to the imaginary assailant short to take a “call” from “LeBron,” and asks him “There’s a guy trying to stab another guy with a knife, what do you think I should do?”
“LeBron’s” response is not heard, but the implication is that he asked the officer to tell him the races of those involved, prompting Silvester to respond “Why does that matter? OK, well, they’re both Black. One guy is trying to stab another guy with a knife. Deadly force is completely justified.”
After another pretend exchange on the phone, Silvester than says, “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? I mean, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but then again, you’re really good at basketball, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
Before driving away, Silvester says: “I mean, that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but then again, you’re really good at basketball, so I guess I’ll take your word for it.”
After apologizing to the two non-existent individuals involved in the knife fight and telling them “you’re on your own,” Silvester then drives off.
Silvester’s TikTok video has nearly four million views as of Tuesday afternoon. His account currently has nearly 190,000 followers.
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