Getty Image
For the past few weeks, LeBron James has found himself in a bizarre beef with legendary college football coach Nick Saban when he accused Alabama of ripping off his barbershop show “The Shop”
On Monday, UNINTERRUPTED sent a letter to Alabama addressing concerns over copyright infringement and intellectual property appropriation.
“The Shop” was developed by James and UNINTERRUPTED co-founder Maverick Carter. Its first episode, which premiered during the 2017 NBA Finals, generated approximately 4 million views across UNINTERRUPTED.com and ESPN’s YouTube channel, according to a copy of the letter obtained by ESPN.
“Your continued exploitation of ‘Shop Talk’ infringes ‘UNINTERRUPTED’s’ copyright, trademark rights and other valuable intellectual property rights in ‘The Shop’ and significantly damages ‘UNINTERRUPTED’s’ commercial prospects for ‘The Shop,’” the letter reads, in part.
. “But I built UNINTERRUPTED for a reason, for us athletes to have a platform to be able to speak your mind about whatever we want to talk about. I respect him as a coach, but I’ll be damned if I allow someone to use our platform or try to do the same thing we’re doing and just think it’s OK. James said Tuesday night
Well it turns out the LeBron may have stolen the show from someone else. According to TMZ Sports, a company called Adventure Enterprises is suing LeBron for stealing the idea behind “The Shop” and not paying them.
Via TMZ
Adventure Enterprises claims in a new lawsuit, obtained by TMZ Sports, it pitched a TV show to LeBron called “Shop Talk.” The backdrop for the show was a barbershop where celebs share their business success stories while getting a haircut.
The company claims it had numerous talks about the idea with LeBron’s company, UNINTERRUPTED, over a period of 2 years … fleshing out the idea and figuring out a strategy for pitching it to various networks.
According to the lawsuit, LeBron went and cut Adventure Enterprises out of the picture and created a ripoff show called “The Shop,” featuring LeBron in a barbershop with his contemporaries, “while engaging in an intimate conversation describing cultural experiences.” The show aired as a webisode.
LOL LeBron, forever and ever.