LeBron James, hero of the USA Basketball team, is now the King of Dope on certain streets of Philadelphia.
Instead of being showcassed in ads for State Farm, Nike and McDonald’s, Bron is featured on plastic bags of heroin.
Marlon Guess, a 19-year-old native of Philadelphia, was caught by an undercover police selling heroin that was packaged with a unique label of LeBron James flying high for a reverse dunk, according to police.
The Philadelphia Daily News reports that LeBron did not endorse or authorize these labels in any fashion. In fact, LeBron does all kinds of positive stuff for urban kids — like the LeBron James Family Foundation he established in 2004 to assist children and single-parent families in need.
But Bron’s humanitarian efforts can’t keep guys like Guess from idolizing the athletic rockstar. He’s clearly a big fan, as police found a caricature of LeBron worth $750. Maybe Guess could sell the figure and put the cash toward his release. Guess’ bond is set at $250,000.
LeBron’s not the first public icon to be used to sell drugs. Here are other iconographic labels that dealers are using to advertise their products:
