Last fall, 49ers tight end George Kittle was forced to address a manufactured controversy. After conservative activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed Sept. 10, a quote falsely attributed to Kittle went viral on Facebook before spreading to other platforms.
“I love football because it unites people,” Kittle’s fake statement read. “But lately, I’ve seen politics being dragged into it far too often. Charlie Kirk may matter to some, but he has no place in the NFL. Football is for the fans, the competition, and the love of the game—not for politics.”
The online backlash to the quote was swift and enormous, prompting Kittle to post a response via Instagram Story: “This is a fake quote. I hope most of you realize that. Also, that [Facebook] account only posts fake news/reports, please ignore them. The wild messages I’m receiving from people made me have to address it.”
Jason Kelce had to do similar damage control last October, leading up to the Super Bowl, when an alleged quote of him disparaging Bad Bunny (“bad fit for America’s future”) went viral. “I normally don’t comment on things like this, but I feel I need to address that there are a number of accounts posting fake quotes and attributing them to me on this platform right now,” he said.
