Cop unceremoniously fired after he mocked LeBron James — but a GoFundMe page for him amasses jaw-dropping amount in donations

Officer Nate Silvester says that he has been fired after a video of him mocking Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James went viral.

What's a very brief history here?

Silvester made headlines in April after sharing video of himself in uniform pretending to phone James for guidance on how to properly assist a fictional stabbing encounter in a mocked-up police call.

Silvester made the video in response to James' posting a photo of the officer involved in the police shooting of Ohio teen Ma'Khia Bryant and captioning it, "YOU'RE NEXT. #ACCOUNTABILITY."

Silvester, who worked for the Bellevue Marshal's Office in Idaho, was suspended shortly after the video emerged on the internet.

What are the details?

In an interview with Fox News' Sean Hannity, Silvester said that he lost his job because of cancel culture.

"I am the latest target of cancel culture," he insisted. "That's all it is."

Silvester also told the Fox host that he was simply trying to "humanize the badge."

"None of my other videos that depicted me in my uniform or involving body camera footage, none of those mattered," he said. "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."

Hannity, in response to Silvester's allegations, said that the former officer should "sue their asses off."

Silvester responded, "I am still trying to wrap my head around that. I was just fired this morning."

The former law enforcement official also said that he is considering continuing his career in law enforcement, and says that he's received offers "from different agencies and elected officials from across the country."

"It's not off the table," he insisted.

'Last chance agreement'

In a Facebook statement, Bellevue Mayor Ned Burns said that Silvester was fired on Thursday for "continued policy violations" after he was reportedly on a "last chance agreement" with superiors.

"The policy violations have nothing to do with the tone or tenor of his speech that he posts online," the post explained. "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."

The post continued, "The decision was solely made by the command structure within the Bellevue Marshals [sic] office and was not influenced in any way by me or by the City Council."

'Gunning for Nate's termination'

At the time of this writing, a GoFundMe page to benefit the newly unemployed police officer has received more than $530,000 — a total that continues to climb as the days go by.

On Thursday, Gannon Ward, the page's organizer, shared an update on Silvester's firing and wrote, "Unofficially, as I stated originally, Bellevue mayor Ned Burns has been gunning for Nate's termination since his Lebron James TikTok went viral. We have heard through the grape vine this is coming down the pipes, it was only a matter of time, and they were just looking for a reason to terminate him."