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- Urban Meyer and his wandering fingers have been the talk of the NFL over the past week.
- But who was behind the viral leaks? An electrician in Ohio.
- Click HERE for more football coverage!
D.J. Byrnes has turned the internet and the NFL upside down over the last seven days by posting two since-viral videos of Urban Meyer.
Who is he?
That question can be answered in a few different ways, and the Wall Street Journal profiled him earlier this week.
For starters, he is a lifelong Ohio State fan who lives in Columbus. He took classes at the University but never graduated.
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Byrnes is currently a union electrician’s apprentice, but he done a variety of different things throughout the years. He ran for a seat in the Ohio state House of Representatives (and lost), he spent years writing for a Buckeyes fan website, and now he pens a newsletter that focuses mainly on local politics.
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Those are just a few of the many hats that Byrnes has worn.
During his time with the Ohio State fansite, elevenwarriors.com, the 34-year-old gained quite a few contacts in the world of Buckeyes sports. A few years back, Byrnes got tired of covering the program.
He felt like the only way for someone like him to cover then-head coach Urban Meyer, the team and — in particular — the scandal revolving around wide receivers coach Zach Smith and his alleged spousal abuse was equivalent to PR work. He didn’t like that.
“I do have a reputation as somebody who enjoys serving the rich and powerful shit cocktails,” Byrnes said to the Wall Street Journal.
Nevertheless, those established connections were crucial last weekend.
Striking gold.
Byrnes had heard about Meyer’s night out on the Friday that it happened. And then, after a few beers on Saturday, he received the first video.
It showed a random woman grinding on Meyer at the bar of Meyer’s restaurant, Urban Chophouse. Byrnes quickly posted the video to his burner Twitter account and, boom, it went viral.
By Monday morning, the media was calling for Meyer to be fired, the Jaguars were trying to figure out if they could fire him and Meyer was being laughed at by his team for his apology. But it wasn’t done there.
Shortly after Meyer addressed the media and said a group that wanted to take pictures with him at the bar and that he “should’ve left” when they “were trying to pull out on the dance floor,” Byrnes received news of a second video.
“Are you aware of the other video?” the message said, according to the Wall Street Journal. Shortly thereafter, it was in Byrnes’ possession.
The clip proved that Meyer was lying and showed him getting rather handsy with the woman at the bar. After Meyer stepped up to the podium and fibbed, Byrnes was excited to get it online.
He quickly threw it up on Twitter and it once again set things into a frenzy. Meyer had to apologize again, the Jacksonville team owner expressed his distrust, Meyer’s daughter was forced to address the situation, and the mother of the woman in the video spoke out.
It has been complete and utter chaos surrounding Meyer, the scandal, and his current standing with the team. And yet, none of it would have happened without an electrician’s apprentice.
Urban might have gotten away with it if it weren’t for Byrnes— the people’s champion.