JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A recent picture posted by a Jacksonville restaurant owner on Facebook is sparking controversy from the community and the NFL.
Big Al’s Cheesesteaks posted back in April a picture of what appeared to be an AI-generated photo of Trevor Lawrence holding one of his cheesesteaks.
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The picture garnered a lot of attention over the last several days.
Then the restaurant posted another picture of what appeared to be an NFL letter saying he could not use NFL Marks to promote services.
One comment on the post said the picture was of a local surfer.
News4JAX has reached out to the restaurant multiple times. We have called and shown up to ask Big Al’s if it was real. We also reached out on Facebook and asked to meet. The group messaged back and said, “Yea, CNN called me and wants to do an exclusive interview.”
We then asked, “Okay. Is the photo real? Also, do you have any statement you can provide us?”
The group replied, “Yes, that photo was real, no official statement.”
We then asked if the photo was real or if the photo of Trevor Lawrence was real.
We got no reply.
Finally, we visited the restaurant around 4:30, where we were told Big Al was not there.
The Jaguars sent us this statement saying not only is the photo AI-generated, but Trevor Lawrence has never even been to that restaurant.
Here is the statement addressing the picture and also the letter sent to Big Al.
“To give you some background, the letter makes the company in question aware of their unauthorized use of NFL Marks to promote its products and services through this and other posts on their social media. The use of fake images to represent the team or players misappropriates a relationship using licensed marks for commercial purposes, constituting trademark infringement. The Jaguars, nor the player whose likeness is used, have a relationship with this company.
The posted image has been confirmed by Trevor to be AI-generated and, therefore, a fraudulent use of his likeness, as he has not been to the restaurant. “