Rumors that former NFL quarterback and national anthem protestor Colin Kaepernick signed with the New York Jets on Thursday, are false.
Claims that Kaepernick, who has not played pro football since the end of the 2016 season, was once again a member of the NFL were kicked off by a satire Twitter account on Thursday. The post fooled thousands of social media users, TheSpun reported.
The known sports parody Twitter account named @SuperToughScene tweeted a photo of Kaepernick in his San Francisco 49ers uniform superimposed over a green graphic including the New York Jets logo, along with the claim that Kaepernick signed a one-year, $9 million contract with New York. For an added touch, SuperToughScene changed avatars to match that of SportsCenter and replaced its name with SportsCenter to finish the illusion. Then, for good measure, cited sports reporter Adam Schefter as a source for the wild tail.
By early evening on Thursday, the joke tweet had earned 26,000 likes and 7.6K retweets.
The claim that Kaepernick signed for a mere $9 million should have been the first warning sign in the tweet. Kaepernick had demanded more than double that already in the past and didn’t get it.
Regardless, thousands of Twitter users were elated to see what they thought was news that Kaepernick was once again playing pro football. Several news organizations also fell for the parody site including CBS 17, and Fox 8, both in North Carolina.
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