As he as wont to do, Adam Schefter took to X last week to share a viral clip from the Thursday Night Football matchup between the New York Jets and Houston Texans.
There was just one problem: As many quickly noticed on social media, the ESPN insider didn’t post the clip from Amazon’s feed of the game. Rather, based on the wordmark in the upper lefthand corner, the clip was pulled from the popular pirate streaming site known as Meth Streams.
No TD.
Fumble.
Texans ball. pic.twitter.com/UClFEqVm3R— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) November 1, 2024
Schefter’s use of a clip from Meth Streams raised immediate red flags and led many — including this website — to question whether ESPN’s top NFL insider uses illegal streaming websites to bypass Amazon Prime Video’s paywall. While Front Office Sports later reported that wasn’t the case and that Schefter had merely shared the clip from a third-party source without noticing the wordmark, he has now confirmed himself that not only does he pay for an Amazon Prime, but that his family’s account is an active one.
“The most ridiculous thing — that I was accused of trying to save $8.99 a month when my wife spends an average of $8.99 a minute with Amazon,” Schefter said during an impromptu appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Wednesday. “I can’t even figure out how to sign up and they’re accusing me of trying to get around it with Meth Streams.”
That’s hardly surprising, as it was tough to fathom one of ESPN’s biggest stars not having an Amazon subscription. Still, the visual of Schefter scouring the internet for illegal streams and quickly clicking out of pop-up ads (which we’ve been told is something you have to do while accessing such sites) was too funny to ignore, even if him sharing the clip from a different source — while his wife apparently shopped on Amazon — was always the likeliest explanation.
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.