Key Takeaways
- Someone claiming to represent Ron Artest, now known as Metta Sandiford-Artest, and his wife Maya asked Vancouver’s Oh Sweet Day! Bake Shop to make their son a custom birthday cake in exchange for social media exposure.
- Owner Fanny Lam rejected the pitch, saying the cake could cost her small business up to $300 and calling out the financial “imbalance” of a wealthy family seeking free work.
- After Lam shared the email publicly, Maya reportedly said an assistant sent the request without the couple’s knowledge, while another Vancouver business also received the pitch.
A Vancouver, Canada bakery owner put Ron Artest and his family on blast after someone claiming to represent the former NBA champion allegedly asked her to make a custom birthday cake—in exchange for exposure instead of money. Fanny Lam, who owns Oh Sweet Day! Bake Shop in East Vancouver, said the proposed freebie would have cost her small business as much as $300.
Lam said the request arrived by email from someone identifying as an assistant to Artest, now legally named Metta Sandiford-Artest, and his wife, Maya. The sender pitched a “collaboration” involving a cake for the couple’s son and pointed to the family’s social media following, promising that the birthday celebration would be shared across their platforms. Lam said the message never indicated that anyone planned to pay.
That omission did not go over well. Lam told CTV News that requests for free products in exchange for posts have become increasingly common, but she found this one especially hard to swallow considering who was reportedly behind it.
Sandiford-Artest—still widely known as Ron Artest and Metta World Peace—spent 17 seasons in the NBA, earned Defensive Player of the Year honors in 2004 and won a championship with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2010.
“We felt particularly frustrated because of the imbalance,” Lam said. “A small business like us being asked to custom make something out of pocket for somebody who is considerably more financially successful—to take it for free.”
Lam said the pitch language left little room for confusion about the proposed payment. “We know enough to tell that there is never their intention to pay,” she added.
O’Sweet Day was apparently not the only business that received the request. CTV reported that another Vancouver shop was also contacted but did not respond to the pitch.
After Lam made the email public, Maya reportedly reached out and said an assistant had sent it without the couple’s knowledge. CTV attempted to contact the Sandiford-Artests directly but did not hear back.
