Why Was LeBron James Mentioned During Young Thug’s Trial?

Georgia v. Jefferey Williams — also known as the “Young Thug RICO Trial” to rap fans and observers online — has been full of eyebrow-raising moments so far, from Thug’s defense lawyer’s questionable explanations for the rapper’s name and some of YSL’s slang to snippets of his music being played in court. Today’s proceedings continued that trend as even NBA star LeBron James was mentioned during witness testimony.

LeBron came up via a TikTok video introduced as evidence, which featured LeBron James going through his signature round of handshakes with his Lakers teammates in the tunnel before a game. A defense attorney showed the clip to alleged YSL gang leader Trontavious Stephens, then asked him if he recognized James and whether he could identify some of the hand gestures in it. Stephens, of course, answered in the affirmative — after all, James is one of the most famous people alive — then identified James’ nose-wiping gesture.

“Did you hear what Mr. James said as he wiped his nose?” the defense asked. The answer, “slime,” became the point of contention, as the defense attorney sought to make clear to the jury that if someone as prominent as LeBron James — who is not mobbed up or associated with a gang of any kind, unless the Lakers count — could use the term and wipe his nose as part of an elaborate handshake routine, then there’s little chance they could be solely associated with their use as gang signals, as the prosecution has suggested.

Stephens certainly cooperates, noting that the wiping of the nose gesture and the use of the term “slime” is not unique to the gang he and Thug are accused of leading. Of course, we won’t know how effective the arguments were on the jury until much, much later in the trial, which will continue for up to six months.

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