Claim:
In May 2025, NBA player LeBron James bought his high school's janitor a home, saying, "You gave me belief when I had nothing. Now it’s my turn.”
In May 2025, a rumor that NBA legend LeBron James bought a house for his high school's janitor, "Mr. Jenkins," after discovering that the 80-year-old still worked at the same school made its rounds on the internet.
One Facebook post (archived) from May 20, 2025, received more than 25,000 reactions, as of this writing. It read:
LeBron James Didn't Forget the School Janitor Who Believed in Him – What He Did 25 Years Later Left Everyone in Tears
Back in the halls of St. Vincent-St. Mary High School, before the NBA lights, before the millions, there was just a teenage LeBron James—and an elderly janitor named Mr. Jenkins.
Mr. Jenkins wasn't just the man with the mop.
He was the man who waited for LeBron after practice to lock up.
The man who slipped him protein bars when he knew there was no dinner waiting at home.
The man who told him, every single day:
"You're going to be great one day. Just don't forget where you came from."
25 years later, LeBron James didn't forget.
At 80 years old, Mr. Jenkins was still working part-time at the same school—not because he wanted to, but because he had to. Bills were piling up, his home was falling apart, and retirement seemed like a dream he couldn't afford.
Until one morning, he walked outside and found a man standing in his driveway.
It was LeBron.
No cameras. No press.
Just a grateful man coming to repay a debt of kindness.
LeBron handed him a set of keys.
"That's your new home. Fully paid off. There's a caretaker and a monthly allowance too. You gave me belief when I had nothing. Now it's my turn."
Mr. Jenkins fell to his knees. Tears rolled down both their faces.
Some commenters appeared to believe the story, while others correctly identified the image in the post as a product of artificial intelligence (AI) software. We ran the image through AI detection software Hive, and the results were 100% AI-generated.
(Hive.com)
The only writing in the image also appeared misspelled and written illegibly. "Janitor" appeared as "JANTOR" and "St. Vincent-St. Mary High School" — where James attended high school in Akron, Ohio — appeared as "ST. MRRTS C|OOL."
(Facebook account @100% Fan Of LeBron James)
Other than the fact that the creator of the image used AI-generation software, there was also no evidence on the internet that James bought a home for any janitor. A Google search of the keywords "LeBron James janitor" primarily produced results related to the Facebook post in question or other similarly AI-generated claims. There were no credible news reports to corroborate the claim, and as a result we've rated the rumor false.
(Google.com)
Versions of the claim spread prior to the Facebook post on YouTube; one video from March 28, 2025, showed two different men as "Mr. Jenkins" in the video and on the video's thumbnail.
Another AI-generated YouTube video from February 2025 claimed James surprised a janitor named "Marcus Wilson" with an SUV, while another from March 2025 claimed he discovered his old school janitor, "Mr. Daniels," was still working at age 77.
Snopes has previously investigated similar false rumors about high-profile figures such as White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and sports legend Michael Jordan reconnecting with their high school janitors.