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Following the very controversial penalty on Eagles defensive back James Bradberry that basically gifted Super Bowl LVII to the Chiefs (at State Farm Stadium), it took about a millisecond for fans to start shouting “Rigged!”
It was certainly hard to blame the fans for doing so, especially after the officiating in the AFC Championship Game also gifted the Chiefs a victory.
Of course, claims that the NFL is rigged are nothing new.
Back in 2020, one fan went so far as to put together a 22 minute video “proving” Super Bowl LIV was also rigged in favor of Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.
In 2021, former Chiefs running back Larry Johnson claimed the NFL rigged the Super Bowl for the Bucs because Tom Brady is a member of the occult. (That wasn’t the first time he claimed NFL games are scripted.)
Heck, way back in 2013, Terrell Suggs claimed that the NFL caused a complete blackout during the Super Bowl as a ploy to help the 49ers regroup after Baltimore jumped out to a 28-6 lead.
While most NFL fans have fun with all of the conspiracy theories, they don’t take it too seriously.
Others, however, continue to perpetuate the myth, including those that should really know better like former NFL stars Antonio Brown and Dez Bryant.
Based on his recent history, giving anything Antonio Brown says any credence is probably a mistake. That didn’t stop Dez Bryant on Monday though.
On Monday, Antonio Brown posted a video to his Instagram of Kanye West claiming, just like Larry Johnson, that the NFL rigged Super Bowl LV for Tom Brady to get his seventh ring. (Patrick Mahomes was supposedly in on that one too, so that makes three Super Bowls he’s helped rig, according to conspiracy theorists.)
Surprisingly, Dez Bryant agreed with Kanye West and Antonio Brown.
“I gotta keep it G I’ll be lying if I didn’t say something similar…” Bryant wrote in the comments. “That was an obvious fixed game… truthfully some of the things we all love can be corrupt… ain’t no such thing is a fair game… You gotta find your cult because this world share so many dishonest perspectives…”
Perhaps even more surprisingly, Antonio Brown played in that Super Bowl and won a ring with the Buccaneers!
Fans were quick to jump in the comments to point out that if true, then AB was admitting his one career Super Bowl victory was also rigged.
Does he know something the rest of us don’t? Probably not, but it’s certainly fun to speculate.