Serious wardrobe malfunction! Cleveland Cavaliers’ superstar LeBron James became a trending topic across the Internet on Thursday, June 11, and it wasn’t because of his usual athletic prowess. The NBA star was part of a team huddle when he accidentally flashed his penis on live television before millions of viewers tuning in to Game 4 of the NBA Finals between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Golden State Warriors.
During the ABC live broadcast, James’ junk was (very quickly!) shown on TV when cameras panned to the star athlete adjusting his compression shorts. According to NBC News, the basketball star exposed himself to approximately 18.5 million viewers, based on the average number of people who tuned in during each of the first three games.
Immediately, viewers took to Twitter to call out the incident. Then, a Vine (warning: NSFW!) emerged.
Lebron’s penis made a brief TV appearance tonight https://t.co/3wYRWAd0Sa
— JD Harmeyer (@jdharm) June 12, 2015
Dunno where my boyfriend is, but I just saw Lebron’s penis on national TV, so it’s not a total loss of a night
— Marie Bardi (@mariebardi) June 12, 2015
Honestly…one Warriors person should just whisper to LeBron “All of America just saw your penis on TV”…hed be so shook rest of the game
— Rizz (@Rizzmigizz) June 12, 2015
Gonna be weird when LeBron finds out he showed his penis
— Justin (@ChefJustln) June 12, 2015
“When in doubt, whip the wiener out.”- Lebron.
— Brett Anderson (@BrettAnderson35) June 12, 2015
It must be really exciting for all men everywhere to finally have something in common with lebron now that we’ve seen his junk in gym shorts
— Katie Nolan (@katienolan) June 12, 2015
internet: hello this is the Internet me: hello where can I find lebron’s dick
— Ricky Montgomery (@rohmontgomery) June 12, 2015
The moment brought back memories of other crazy wardrobe malfunctions broadcast on live TV, including Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake‘s infamous 2004 nip slip during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Following the debacle, the FCC slapped CBS with a hefty $550,000 fine for the exposure, although the Supreme Court later voided the charge.
James’ accidental flashing wasn’t his only big moment of the night, though. He also had a hard head-on collision with a camera, which resulted in the player needing stitches. “I had a slight headache, which I think every one of you guys would probably have if you ran into a camera,” James, whose team lost the game on Thursday night, told USA Today. “Like I said, I got a few stitches and I got a slight headache right now but I’ll be fine with that.”
