Early Monday morning, before my day even started, Robert Griffin III stole something. Less than five hours later, RG3 got caught. Blame RG3 all you want for his failings as an NFL quarterback, but he's remarkably efficient on Monday mornings.
On Monday morning, at 10:43 a.m. ET, RG3 congratulated the Cleveland Cavaliers for winning the NBA title over the Golden State Warriors. That's not the problematic part. The problematic part is the photo RG3 used, which he marked with a copyright in the bottom corner.
Congrats to the Champs! Epic series & an epic win for #TheLandpic.twitter.com/nnp4Zp0Rng
— Robert Griffin III (@RGIII) June 20, 2016
It's problematic because of this remarkably similar photo, which the Cavaliers Tweeted the night before:
We did it, Cleveland. #NBAChampions | #OneForTheLandpic.twitter.com/7Hndm6YaB1
— Cleveland Cavaliers (@cavs) June 20, 2016
RG3 might not be the kind of player he once was, but he's still RG3 -- the quarterback of Cleveland's NFL team and a Twitter user with 1.43 million followers. So, of course, he got caught ... by the Cavaliers' web designer:
@RGIII I'm glad you like the graphic but you didn't have to cut @Cavs off & slap your name on it. GFX like that take a ton of time to make.
— Joey C (@_JoeyC_) June 20, 2016
The story, though, doesn't end there. As Deadspin's Patrick Redford discovered, RG3 (or whoever runs his account) apparently uses something called WhoSay, an app that helps celebrities copyright their #content. If you follow RG3 on Twitter, you might've seen those RG3 watermarks at the bottom of his other photos.
As far as I'm aware, WhoSay was not designed for celebrities like RG3 to steal photos and then pass them off as their own, which makes RG3's Twitter habits strange.
Then again, it's 2016 and we're talking about Browns quarterback RG3's Twitter account posting photos about the Cavaliers' NBA championship. All of this is weird.
