It seems that New Orleans Saints legend and future Hall-of-Famer Drew Brees was involved in a failed publicity stunt or attempt at poor humor on Friday.
Drew Brees was a trending topic earlier today on social media as NFL fans were worried that the retired quarterback was in a battle for life or death after a freak accident filming a commercial.
On Friday, a video hit the interwebs of Brees on set filming an advertisement in Venezuela for the gambling site PointsBet. The commercial’s director Rafael Hernandez posted the video on his Twitter account, which showed Brees during a break between takes. Then comes a bright flash and a roll of thunder that forced the camera to turn away and the area to be covered in darkness.
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Obviously, sports fans around the country were concerned Brees was seriously hurt or may have tragically died after the caption to the video claimed he was hit by lightning. However, it wasn’t long before it was revealed that he was not in any danger.
Drew Brees hit by lightning video a hoax?
After the video hit the internet, those with the capability to reach out to Drew Brees and the people close to him of course tried to find out if the video was authentic and what his condition might be after such a scary incident.
ESPN New Orleans Saints beat writer Katherine Terrell was one of the first to find out that Brees was, in fact, not hit by lightning. “I just texted Drew Brees. He said he’s good and that he did not get struck by lightning,” she wrote on Twitter.
The big questions now are, did lightning hit the set, and Drew Brees luckily avoided actually being hit, or was this all a terrible scheme by PointsBet to draw some attention to their partnership with the future HOFer? Furthermore, was he in the know about the plan, or is he a hapless victim in a failed publicity stunt?
Either way, NFL fans no longer have to worry because Brees is fine and healthy and not the latest victim of a lightning strike.