LeBron James Sends Cease-and-Desist to Bron AI: Betting-App Ad Used His Likeness and Voice and Passed 900,000 Views in Under 24 Hours
Philadelphia 76ers star LeBron James has sent a cease-and-desist letter to PlayVision Inc., the company behind the sports-betting app Bron AI, demanding that it permanently stop using his likeness. A promotional video the app posted on X on November 4 used a synthetically generated character resembling James, and it spread rapidly on social media, passing 900,000 views in less than 24 hours.
According to Front Office Sports, the character in the video wears a jersey bearing James's nickname, "Bron," and his number, 23, and speaks in a voice resembling James's while scrolling through the app. The character stops on a photo of Phoenix Suns forward Dillon Brooks and says, "Dillon Brooks? On Kalshi? Hell nah." The video was posted on X by the company's CEO. "LeBron is in no way affiliated with this unauthorized use of his likeness," a spokesperson for James told Front Office Sports.
The letter, from the law firm Grubman Shire Meiselas & Sacks PC, says the company has engaged in the "unauthorized use and illicit exploitation of" James's name, nickname, likeness, image, persona and other identifying attributes to create the appearance of an association between the two sides. It demands that Bron AI permanently stop using his likeness in any manner and media, remove the advertisement, and notify every person who has used the app, in writing, that James has no involvement with the company. According to ESPN, the letter set a deadline of 5:30 p.m. Thursday. About three hours after Front Office Sports published its story, the ad was removed from X.
The letter calls the use "especially serious and egregious" for two reasons. James has an exclusive endorsement deal with the prediction-market platform Polymarket — a deal Inc reported is worth $15 million — and the ad implies that he is "involved with betting on basketball, which is a very serious violation of NBA rules and regulations." Bron AI bills itself as a tool that aggregates data and odds from traditional sportsbooks and prediction markets, allowing users to identify potentially profitable wagers and automatically place bets on other apps; it is free to download, with a pro version costing $29.99 a month or $249.99 a year. Its owner, PlayVision Inc., was founded in 2025 and is backed by the startup accelerator Y Combinator.
James is not the only athlete shown. According to Front Office Sports, the ad also includes images of NBA players Donovan Mitchell and Giannis Antetokounmpo, NFL players Christian McCaffrey and Jayden Daniels, and a photo of Los Angeles Lakers star Luka Dončić, whose representative has also sent Bron AI a cease-and-desist letter. Adam Mendelsohn, James's longtime media adviser, told Front Office Sports the ad is "another example of the decline and lack of originality in sports marketing," adding, "I'm sure the intent here was for us to send a cease and desist in order to make it a story." He said such gimmicks never work because people see through them.
Legal experts told Front Office Sports the ad crosses right-of-publicity lines. Harvard Law School professor Rebecca Tushnet said that even without saying "LeBron James," evoking a celebrity's identity through a resembling avatar is a violation of many states' right-of-publicity laws and could also amount to false endorsement. Sports attorney Darren Heitner said the combination of the nickname "Bron," the number 23, the physical presentation and the similar voice seemed designed to trade on James's identity in connection with an unrelated sports-betting product. PlayVision and Bron AI did not respond to requests for comment from Front Office Sports, and neither did Y Combinator.
It is not the first time James has acted over misuse of his likeness. In July 2025, he demanded that the creators of a tool called Interlink AI stop allowing videos using his likeness, after users created videos showing a pregnant version of James.
Source: Front Office Sports
Published by GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 勒布朗·詹姆斯本人资料图（2026年1月28日效力洛杉矶湖人队时期，Erik Drost摄，CC BY 4.0，经Wikimedia Commons），非本次事件现场图
