While the sports media continues to rely on Elon Musk’s X as a resource and conversation outlet, it has to come to terms with the fact that it remains easy to be duped if you don’t take a moment.
The Messenger and On3 are the latest outlets to get faked out by a fake tweet. This time, it was an account pretending to be Odell Beckham Sr., father of Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Odell Beckham, Jr.
The post caught people’s attention as it came in the wake of Baltimore’s 17-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, costing the team a chance at a Super Bowl berth.
“My son deserves better quarterback play. You set him up for failure today. This loss is NOT on OBJ,” reads the X post that appears at first glance to be from “Odell Beckham Sr.” A quick glance at the actual username, however, reveals it to be to from user @RonBillmery, a Ballsack Sports-affiliated fake account.
My son deserves better quarterback play. You set him up for failure today. This loss is NOT on OBJ. #Pray4Him #FreeOBJ #Baltifraud pic.twitter.com/fOm0MnZ0HM
— Ron Billmery (@RonBillmery) January 28, 2024
It looks like both On3 and The Messenger wrote articles around the post as if it were real.
On3 appears to have realized their error and deleted the article. The Messenger article was deleted after about two hours of being live.
It’s a bit of a perfect storm for a fake social media post to dupe writers, considering Beckham has publically sparred with quarterbacks and teams before. However, for the record, it looks like Beckham is very supportive of Jackson on Sunday despite the loss.
https://twitter.com/SInow/status/1751746175403769965
This is the latest example of how you have to double-check and triple-check when you’re using X as your resource for articles. Fox Sports’ Emmanuel Acho was fooled by a fake tweet about Caleb Williams two weeks ago and we’ve seen several high-profile people around sports get duped as well since Elon Musk made X, formerly Twitter, even more of a Wild West than it previously was.
About Sean Keeley
Along with writing for Awful Announcing and The Comeback, Sean is the Managing Editor for Comeback Media. Previously, he created the Syracuse blog Troy Nunes Is An Absolute Magician and wrote 'How To Grow An Orange: The Right Way to Brainwash Your Child Into Rooting for Syracuse.' He has also written non-Syracuse-related things for SB Nation, Curbed, and other outlets. He currently lives in Seattle where he is complaining about bagels. Send tips/comments/complaints to sean@thecomeback.com.