Daejon Love's 49ers rip-off deserves extra than simply laughs

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I needed to chuckle at Daejon Love — if that’s his actual title — and his impersonation of a San Francisco 49ers broad receiver. I actually did.

I did chuckle at a meme that was posted after Aaron Donald introduced his return to the Los Angeles Rams. The prime caption learn “all this,” with Donald, Myles Garrett, Puka Nacua and Matthew Stafford pictured, whereas the underside caption learn “to stop one man,” with Love pictured on the backside.

Memes and spoofs, such because the one Lou Young crafted at Love’s expense, are innocent. What’s not innocent is the truth of the scenario. Love stole greater than one million {dollars} from greater than 20 ladies. Some individuals assume that’s humorous, as a result of the ladies ought to have “known better,” or that it’s a kind of retribution for “gold diggers” who rip-off professional athletes.

I feel it’s all absurd — and that’s not simply celeb for you, however America. Hell, persons are afraid of lettuce as of late. Speaking of greenery, one of many prime reveals on TV follows an American ex-pat who constructed a weed empire in London and has since began to maneuver like a mob boss. Meanwhile, in real-life America, we nonetheless don’t know what actually occurred to Nolan Wells.

Collectively, we’ve responded to celeb and calamity the identical approach we do most issues on this nation: humor, cynicism and disrespect. The laughs, once more, are innocent. But our inaction and sense of justice usually are not.

I listened to Stephen Jackson and LeSean McCoy weigh in on the saga. Jackson, who famously mourned the homicide of his longtime good friend George Floyd, supplied an odd protection of Love.

“I see y’all laughing at the dude. Y’all ain’t no better than him,” Jackson stated. “A lot of y’all still got hoop dreams, y’all just ain’t walking around with a uniform on. … The only difference is he’s wearing a helmet and a jersey. Most of y’all are fake, and none of y’all know what you’re talking about.”

Floyd as a reference level is necessary, as a result of the trauma that Jackson holds on to needs to be a supply of empathy, even when the stakes of Love’s alleged crimes usually are not life and dying. Instead, the previous NBA athlete’s focus shifts away from the victims and accountability for Love’s actions, and Jackson makes use of the story to punch downward on these much less achieved than he’s.

McCoy leaned into his “Shady” nickname by providing a gender-based, retribution-forward narrative: “I love Daejon Love, and let me tell you why. … Every time a man does something, they want to crucify us for it. I watch women do this all the freaking time!”

This is, after all, an train in mental dishonesty. Love’s rip-off used faux investments to focus on and defraud ladies. What Shady did on his podcast was challenge his private dealings of his courting life, and he tacitly admitted as a lot: “I’ve been finessed a lot,” he stated.

Yung Miami speaks in the course of the BET Experience Celebrity Basketball Game at USC’s Galen Center on June 25 in Los Angeles.Aaron J. Thornton/Getty Images for BET

Blurring the traces of decency — of mutual respect between women and men, of celeb and accountability — are important to scamming.

People have tried to recommend Love’s conduct is the response to an incantation from rapper Yung Miami, born Caresha Brownlee, whose “Spend Dat” is an ode to scheming and is arguably the music of the summer time. “Where all my scamming ass n—-s at? / Spending that money fast,” the City Girls founder sings on the hook. “Boosting b—-es, where y’all at? / Stuffin’ that s— in y’all bag.”

The music is a case research in how we interpret leisure and empowerment, and in the end, the throughline for most individuals just isn’t schooling. It’s exploitation. But earlier than detractors of Yung Miami groan and declare, “Caresha, please,” perceive that the showdown is greater than her, and has been for some time.

I revisited a 2018 profile on Yung Miami and her former City Girls bandmate, JT, with the headline: “City Girls Are More Like You Than You Think.” It painted the duo in a stunningly trustworthy gentle and mentioned their upbringing, together with the realities of jail time for JT, who had been locked up in federal jail for bank card fraud.

This quote from music producer Kevin “Coach K” Lee acquired my consideration.

“I don’t think [City Girls] are political, but the situations that they’ve been put in are political. This world is male-dominated and crazy,” he informed Naomi Zeichner of New York Magazine’s The Cut. “Miami and JT, they’re the voice for women who have voices, but don’t get to use them. They’re like, ‘Oh I got a voice?’ Then we gon’ really let them have it.”

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Daejon Love isn’t any innovator. Like Jackson, he disregards the meritocracy and vanity of former athletes who didn’t make the skilled ranks. Like McCoy, he gives commentary that means a disdain for ladies. There are instances when a scammer’s actions sound like a cry for assist, or within the case of City Girls, is extra of an F-U declaration. And then, there are people like Love who rip-off for the love of the showdown.

Being truthful, that “love of the game” is greater than our expensive good friend Daejon. The showdown, after all, is greed. Capitalism. The love of cash over the whole lot else. The Federal Bank of Cleveland simply launched a report concerning the file variety of wage thefts occurring within the United States:

In fiscal 12 months 2025, the US Department of Labor recovered greater than $259 million in again wages and damages owed to 176,957 staff (US Department of Labor, 2025). These recoveries have been in response to numerous types of what’s termed “wage theft,” together with unpaid additional time, illegal wage deductions, and minimum-wage violations. However, this determine contains solely the quantity recovered by way of authorities enforcement. Existing analysis estimates that from 2013 by way of 2015, staff within the 10 most populous states skilled minimum-wage-violation underpayments of $8 billion yearly, affecting 2.4 million staff, with the typical affected employee underpaid by about $3,300 per 12 months.

Daejon LoveInstagram

By now, you’ve heard concerning the Los Angeles Clippers’ scamming methods, and the way Mark Walters’ majority sale of the Los Angeles Lakers has drawn scrutiny as he faces federal investigation. Terrell Owens, an actual former 49ers receiver, stated the vitality the feds are directing towards Love needs to be directed towards NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre, who’s linked to the most important welfare scandal in Mississippi historical past.

“[Niners] in the news again for all the wrong reasons. And I know this is probably not good to say, but you look at what he’s done, scamming women out of X amount of dollars, Brett Favre scammed a lot of people outta money too, and he’s still walking around. So if that’s the case, Brett Favre should be in jail too,” Owens stated.

I can hear detractors of this column now. “It ain’t that deep,” you’ll inform me.

I want that have been true.

But the response to Love’s shenanigans recommend one thing completely different, from wealthy and well-known former athletes who see this as retribution in opposition to ladies, to the individuals who will say and spend something to be in shut proximity to fame.

There’s an image of Love trying over a birthday cake with a likeness of a Niners No. 7 jersey. The irony is caked on thick, to place it mildly. For starters, that’s Colin Kaepernick’s jersey, not Love’s. A decade after he kneeled, Kaepernick’s standing in cultural historical past is undisputed.

But there’s one more reason why “love” shouldn’t be anyplace on that jersey. We’ve change into far too cynical about issues that actually matter.

Ken J. Makin is a contract author and the host of the Makin’ A Difference podcast. Before and after commentating, he’s excited about his spouse and his sons.