No, Tua Tagovailoa didn’t attend Donald Trump’s rally near Miami on Tuesday night.
But that didn’t stop many people from thinking he did.
After somebody photoshopped the Miami Dolphins quarterback’s name onto a sign reserving a seat at the rally, some of the usual suspects amplified the picture as if it was authentic. And even after it was proven that the picture was, in fact, fake, that didn’t stop those same people from using the hoax to somehow justify their unfounded claims that Tagovailoa is a Trump supporter.
Talk about #FakeNews, am I right?
Miami Dolphins QB Tua Tagovailoa will be sitting front row tonight in Doral for the Trump speech 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/P4nwN7lhKV
— Eric Spracklen🇺🇸 (@EricSpracklen) July 9, 2024
On Wednesday’s episode of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz, the show’s cast took the opportunity to poke fun at the viral post and those who fell for it. Throughout the episode, producer Chris Cote sat next to an empty chair, which possessed a white sign with Tagovailoa’s name on it — just like the one that was featured in the Photoshopped image.
“I hate photoshopping,” guest host David Samson stated. “I can’t stand it because I don’t know what’s real and what’s not.”
Co-host Pablo Torre proceeded to reveal that Samson had texted the show’s group chat asking if they should talk about Tagovailoa attending the Trump rally on the show. So it wasn’t just right-wing personalities who fell for the photoshopped picture. It was former MLB team presidents-turned-podcast hosts too (or at least one of them).
“Apparently he wasn’t [in attendance],” Samson noted.
“Apparently that was a very easily detectible Photoshop,” Torre responded.
“By who?” Samson replied.
“Not Clay Travis,” producer Billy Gil noted. “He retweeted it.”
Gil proceeded to note the absurdity of Tagovailoa likely facing questions about his alleged support of Trump, all thanks to an internet hoax. The rest of the show’s discussion regarding the matter focused on the seating arrangement of Eric Trump and Baron Trump at the rally, which is ultimately all of the coverage this situation deserves.
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.