Nate Silvester, Cop Who Mocked LeBron James, Fired for Violating City and State Policies

Nate Silvester, the Idaho law enforcement officer who went viral for his TikTok video mocking Lebron James, was fired Thursday from his position as a Bellevue Deputy Marshal.

The TikTok video that amassed millions of views and brought Silvester internet fame, as well as fueled controversy, appeared to show Silvester making fun of basketball legend LeBron James. This was after James had written a (now deleted) tweet speaking out in anger against alleged police brutality in the death of Ma'Khia Bryant, a 16-year-old Black girl who was shot by a white police officer in Columbus, Ohio.

Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns posted on the city's Facebook page Thursday that Deputy Nate Silvester was terminated effective May 27. However, the mayor denied that the decision was due to the content of his online posts.

"During the week of May 20th, while on shift Deputy Marshal Silvester violated several clearly established City of Bellevue and State of Idaho Policing policies," the statement read. "After his previous policy violations Deputy Marshal Silvester was placed on probation and was on, what is called, a 'last chance agreement' with his superior officers. Because of his continued policy violations, the Marshal has terminated Mr. Silvester effective May 27th, 2021."

The statement did not specify exactly what his violations were but clarified they were not regarding the tone of his online posts.

"The policy violations have nothing to do with the tone or the tenor of his speech that he posts online. He was not terminated for the content of his speech; he was terminated for his failure to follow clearly laid out and well established policy."

In the controversial video post in question, Silvester appeared to be speaking to James on the phone while watching a knife fight occur between two people, saying "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."

Previously, the Bellevue Marshal's office posted a public statement to their Facebook page near the of April, saying they would be dealing with the deputy's actions "internally."

"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," the statement read.

"This is a personnel issue that is being dealt with internally," the Bellevue Marshal's Office wrote in the statement. "We would like to thank everyone that took the time to reach out to us. We greatly value our relationship within our wonderful community."

Newsweek has reached out to the Bellevue Marshal's Office for comment.