Randy Moss’ son Thaddeus calls report on his father’s health ‘disgusting,’ ‘not true’

The past few weeks have seen significant speculation on what specific health challenge ESPN NFL analyst Randy Moss is facing. ESPN put out a statement Friday that Moss would step away from Sunday NFL Countdown “for an extended time to focus on a personal health challenge,” but while they offered “full support” for him, both the company and Moss were quiet on what health battle he was facing.

On Tuesday night, surprising source Larry Fitzgerald Sr. (the long-time reporter, columnist, and radio host, and father of former NFL receiver and current media figure Larry Fitzgerald Jr.) put out an apparent report on just what that challenge was. He said he learned at the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame ceremony (involving both Fitzgerald Jr. and Moss as inductees, as well as many others) that Moss had liver cancer.

66th NFF Hall of of Fame Ceremony here in Las Vegas just heard that Vikings HOF Randy Moss has liver cancer.Let’s show the power of prayer and pull Moss through this.🙏🙏🙏.I love you Randy.

— Larry Fitzgerald Sr. (@FitzBeatSr) December 11, 2024

That report from Fitzgerald Sr. was then shared widely, including from NFL aggregators MLFootball and “Dov Kleiman.” (They did not spell out which Fitzgerald it was.) They eventually deleted those tweets, but they’re preserved here as screenshots of Slack embeds

And former NFL QB Brett Favre even picked it this up. (He’d later edit his tweet, but here’s his original.)

But all of that saw massive criticism from Moss’ son Thaddeus (the former college, NFL, USFL, and CFL player) early Wednesday morning. Here’s what he said to Fitzgerald Sr. (language warning):

This is disgusting. You have no right to try to make private matters public for the sake of engagement. I do not believe my father talks to you , so check your fucking sources

— Thaddeus Moss (@Thaddeusmoss) December 11, 2024

Thaddeus Moss also responded to Favre, but in a nicer tone. And that led to Favre (who also made news on other social media fronts Tuesday night) editing his tweet (which was just relaying the information from Fitzgerald and those aggregators), responding back with praying hands, and Moss thanking him.

Brett , the support is appreciated, truly. This is not true. My father will address the world when he is ready to

— Thaddeus Moss (@Thaddeusmoss) December 11, 2024

Thank you

— Thaddeus Moss (@Thaddeusmoss) December 11, 2024

In terms of how we got here, Randy Moss said on Sunday NFL Countdown (where he’s the longest-tenured current figure, working there since joining ESPN in 2016) on Dec. 1 that he and his family are “battling something internally.” He said then that’s why he would wear glasses throughout the show that day.

ESPN then put out a statement on Friday (Dec. 6) that Moss would “step away for an extended time to focus on a personal health challenge,” noting that he had the company’s full support. And the Sunday NFL Countdown cast and crew offered massive on-air tributes to him this Sunday, as did many others.

We send Moss and his family all the best as they deal with this health challenge that he’s facing.

[Thaddeus Moss on X]