Forget whether or not Baltimore Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco is “elite.” Wednesday night, fans had a hard enough time figuring out whether he was alive.
A little after 9:00 p.m. Wednesday, a Ravens fan site’s Twitter account with over 60,000 followers broke some pretty heavy news: Flacco had been “killed in a vehicle accident.”
Two hours later, after Flacco’s alleged death was trending on the micro-blogging site, the account apologized, claiming they were hacked:
We are deeply sorry for what has happen. It seems as though we have been hacked. Please be patient as we try to handle this horrible hacker.
— Ravens Nation (@RavenNationLIVE) June 23, 2016
A lot of users weren’t having it, and Ravens Nation was accused of engineering the hoax themselves as an attention-getting stunt. Pro Football Talk put scare quotes around the word “hacked” when covering the story.
While the immature prank created needless distress and confusion, it also yielded some choice joke tweets. Here are the most “elite.”
Joe Flacco has more fake Twitter deaths than Tony Romo has playoff wins..
— Jeffrey (@AlliDoisQuinnn) June 23, 2016
Joe Flacco actually died during the power outage during the Super Bowl and won the Super Bowl in zombie form. #elite
— lindsey ok (@lindseyyok) June 23, 2016
We all know Joe Flacco wouldn’t die in a car accident. He will die being crushed by the weight of his own eyebrows
— Ryan C (@HayekandHockey) June 23, 2016
