LeBron James Sent a Legal Letter Over AI Videos of Himself — The Company Folded in 30 Minutes
|
|
Millions
Views on the Fake Videos
|
30 Minutes
How Fast the Company Complied
|
|
3+
Other NBA Stars Also Targeted
|
High
Fooled Index
|
|
|
|
NONCONSENSUAL AI — No one thought the videos were real. He never agreed to appear in them either way.
|
|
In July 2025, lawyers representing LeBron James sent a cease-and-desist letter to Interlink AI, a video-generation tool built on a larger platform called FlickUp, along with its associated Discord community. Interlink AI let users generate AI videos of real NBA players in fabricated scenarios, part of a viral genre known as "brainrot AI," repetitive, surreal content designed to be highly shareable regardless of how strange or degrading it gets. Some of the resulting clips depicting James in bizarre and disturbing scenarios reached millions of views on Instagram before James's team stepped in.
Jason Stacks, the founder of FlickUp, confirmed to the outlet 404 Media that he'd received the letter from James's attorneys, sent by the law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks. "Within 30 minutes of receiving the cease and desist, we made the decision to remove all realistic people from Interlink AI's software," Stacks said, adding, "Generative AI is the 'wild west' when it comes to copyright and IP, but we're committed to being on the right side of that change." At least three Instagram accounts that had built up millions of views posting the AI-generated James content were also taken down.
James wasn't alone. Once the format proved popular, users applied the same tool to other NBA stars, including Golden State's Steph Curry, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Denver's Nikola Jokić, all without their consent. Legal experts note this case matters beyond basketball: it's one of the first widely reported instances of a major celebrity taking direct legal action against an AI platform over nonconsensual use of their likeness, rather than against whoever posted the individual videos.
|
|
| ⚖️ |
A cease-and-desist, not a denial. This wasn't James disputing a quote or a photo; it was a formal legal letter targeting the AI tool itself for generating his likeness without permission.
|
|
|
| ⏳ |
The company folded in 30 minutes. FlickUp's founder confirmed pulling all realistic celebrity models from Interlink AI almost immediately after receiving the letter, a sign of how legally exposed the platform knew it was.
|
|
|
| 👥 |
Multiple NBA stars were targeted, not just one. Once the "brainrot" format caught on, users applied it to Curry, Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jokić as well, none of whom consented to any of it.
|
|
|
| 📈 |
Millions of views before anyone stepped in. The videos spread widely on Instagram well before any legal response, showing how fast this kind of content can outrun real-time moderation.
|
|
|
|
🚨 Unauthorized AI Likeness
LeBron James never appeared in any of these AI-generated scenarios, and he never agreed to have his likeness used this way. It's not a traditional misinformation story, no one thought the clips were real, but it's exactly the kind of unauthorized AI content this newsletter tracks: a real person's face and identity, used without consent, spread for clicks.
|
|
|
|
The Toronto Blue Jays Posted an Animated Fan Video — And Fans Accused Them of Using AI
|
|
The Toronto Blue Jays posted a short animated video called "Spill the Tea" to YouTube and X, showing cartoon versions of real players like Ernie Clement and Mason Fluharty talking about their off-day plans, voiced by the actual players themselves. Fans quickly accused the team of using AI to make it, flooding the comments with criticism. The team's social media staff pushed back directly, telling commenters the video was made entirely by human animators and pointing out that animation existed long before generative AI did. The dispute highlights a newer, trickier problem: as AI-generated content becomes more common, some real, human-made work is now getting mistakenly swept up in the same suspicion.
|
|
YOUR REALITY DETECTOR TOOLKIT |
|
Today’s Skill: Remember Consent Matters Even When Nobody's Fooled
Not every AI problem is about tricking people. Some are about using someone's identity without asking.
|
|
01
|
Remember consent matters even when nobody's fooled
Nobody watching the LeBron videos thought they were real footage. The problem wasn't deception, it was using someone's real face and identity without their permission.
|
|
|
|
02
|
Notice how fast a company folds when threatened legally
Interlink AI removed its celebrity models within 30 minutes of receiving a legal letter. How quickly a company backs down often tells you how confident they were in what they were doing.
|
|
|
|
03
|
Don’t assume all unusual content is automatically AI
The Blue Jays' hand-animated video got accused of being AI-made anyway. Rising suspicion of AI can sometimes wrongly target genuine human work too.
|
|
|
|
|
