Minnesota Vikings star wide receiver Justin Jefferson is typically as cool as it gets under pressure on the field. But off the field at the annual NFL Honors Awards Ceremony on Thursday, he was anything but when some unforeseen issues with the teleprompter emerged.
Jefferson was given the responsibility of offering a speech about his predecessor in Minnesota, Hall of Fame wide receiver Randy Moss, who of course recently announced his cancer diagnosis.
Unfortunately, Jefferson’s speech did not go to plan, bumping into the microphone mid-speech which seemingly caused the teleprompter he was reading off of to malfunction. This led to Jefferson firmly halting in his tracks mid-speech.
“What’s up! Playing in the NFL as a wide receiver is a dream job. But playing the position in Minnesota means something a little extra,” said Jefferson before making contact with the microphone. “Oh, I’m sorry. Because of this tradition of excellence we’ve got going on there… I’m sorry guys, the prompter…”
Moments later, the teleprompter issue was corrected, which led to Jefferson fully starting his speech over again.
“Alright, that’s good right there,” said Jefferson as he saw the teleprompter. “We’re gonna start it over, We’re gonna start it over.”
After accidentally smacking the microphone, Justin Jefferson had issues with the teleprompter. pic.twitter.com/0cugrdNCp5
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 7, 2025
It may not have gone entirely to plan. But he did compose himself and deliver the speech about Moss on his second attempt before handing things off to Moss himself to announce the winner of the Comeback Player of the Year Award from his home.
“Playing wide receiver in the NFL is a dream job. But playing this position in Minnesota means something a little extra. Because of the tradition of excellence, we’ve got going on there, the last has plenty of stars on it. There is no name bigger, no icon more legendary than Randy Moss. I don’t need to tell this room or this audience how amazing Randy Moss was on the field. You saw it right there in the highlights and it’s all over the record books.
“But I also know I don’t need to tell you about the fight Randy is in right now battling cancer. So let’s let him know how much we are praying for him right now. Let’s hear it.”
The receiver tradition is strong here in Minnesota.
A lot of love for our guy @RandyMoss from @JJettas2.
📺: #NFLHonors on @NFLNetwork | @NFLonFOX pic.twitter.com/SvsggvO7Zn
— Minnesota Vikings (@Vikings) February 7, 2025
Unfortunately, this was only the tip of the iceberg on what was far from a smooth broadcast from Fox, as there were also several instances where players were misidentified due to incorrect graphics and mistakes from the camera crew.
Sterling Sharpe gets his long-awaited call to the Hall of Fame and the camera focused on…the next inductee, Eric Allen. pic.twitter.com/GC8b3KqFCz
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) February 7, 2025
