No sports radio host gets more big-name guests than CBS Sports Radio’s Zach Gelb. And no sports radio host gets more big-name guests to hang up on him than Zach Gelb.
That statistic has not been fully vetted. But it is a pattern. And Monday night, San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel became the latest person to hang up on Gelb. Samuel has had plenty to say about the Philadelphia Eagles throughout the offseason, but for some reason, he didn’t appreciate Gelb broaching the topic. Samuel previously alleged the 49ers would have beaten the Eagles handily in the NFC Championship Game if quarterback Brock Purdy didn’t get hurt.
“I saw what you said about the Eagles,” Gelb began. “Where if Brock Purdy didn’t get hurt, you guys would have won that game by double-digits.”
“That’s old,” Samuel responded. “That s**t is like, we’re not gonna keep talking about it. I said what I said.”
49ers WR Deebo Samuel hangs up on The @ZachGelb Show after being asked about his comments following the NFC Championship Game against the Eagles.
Full interview here: https://t.co/mZtvbK2sT0 pic.twitter.com/JUQpt7XcqP
— CBS Sports Radio (@CBSSportsRadio) July 11, 2023
Gelb followed up by asking Samuel for a prediction about the 49ers scheduled matchup with the Eagles this regular season.
“I don’t know. Just wait until Week 13, 12, whatever week it is, and we’ll show you,” Samuel said without much enthusiasm.
Not getting much from Samuel, Gelb offered his own prediction that Philadelphia fans will be raucous toward the 49ers during the rematch of their NFC Championship Game. Upon asking Samuel if he had a message for Philly fans, a woman’s voice joined the conversation and said, “Hey, guys, alright, we’re good to go.”
Expectedly confused by the “we’re good to go” comment, Gelb asked, “What do you mean, we have Deebo on right now?”
The woman, presumably a public relations person, said Samuel was going to head into camp and followed that with a click of the phone.
According to Gelb, the interview was pitched to him as a 15-minute segment, but Samuel left after about five or six minutes, having already plugged whatever product he was on the radio to pitch. The Eagles topic may have been a tired one for Samuel, but he made the comments during the offseason. It’s still the offseason. And not enough has happened around Samuel this offseason to warrant doing an interview without asking about his Eagles comments.
“Deebo Samuel right there doesn’t want to answer a few questions,” Gelb said after the wide receiver’s abrupt exit. “Are you serious? We got hung up on because all we did was ask him about the quarterback situation, and then Philadelphia, and we got hung up on by Deebo Samuel? That’s a joke, an absolute joke. That’s absurd.”
Gelb was not being combative during the interview, nor was he asking about a particularly sensitive topic. He was justly asking about football-related comments from Samuel that garnered a lot of attention, which seems in bounds for an offseason interview.
This wasn’t the first time Gelb had a NFL star hang up on him during an interview where they were on his show to pitch a product. Last September, Aaron Donald was in the midst of a media tour and abruptly ended an interview after Gelb asked seemingly predictable questions about the NFL star’s helmet-swinging incident that occurred just one week earlier.
