Fans React After Drew Brees Faked Being Struck By Lightning in PR Stunt for Sports Betting App
Was Drew Brees really struck by lightning?
A video posted to Twitter by @sincepto showed the former New Orleans Saints quarterback in the viewfinder of a camera on set being mic'd up for what looked like some type of commercial shoot.
The rumblings of thunder could be heard in the background while Drew is standing on the outdoor set and just as a member of the crew begins to walk away from Brees a flash of lightning can be seen while screams are simultaneously heard in the background.
The video abruptly ends after the alleged lightning strike and a caption accompanying the tweet translates into a claim that the future Hall of Fame QB was "struck by lightning in Catatumbo—an area of Venezuala known for its unusual amount of lightning strikes.
@drewbrees was struck by lightning in Catatumbo while we were recording a commercial south of Lake Maracaibo. It happened a few hours ago. More information shortly...
See the video below.
Brees is a brand ambassador for PointsBet who released a statement on Friday morning (Dec. 2) saying they were "aware of the media coverage" and were "in communication with Brees' team" regarding the alleged incident.
Saints beat writer Chris Rosvoglou pointed out that Brees tweeted that he was "flying to a top-secret location" earlier this week to shoot an ad for PointsBet.
It's important to note that Catatumbo lightning is known as "an atmospheric phenomenon," where lightning strikes 1.6 million times per year on the remote Venezuelan lake.
This, coupled with the interesting rollout of the video and subsequent statement from PointsBet had many on social media suggesting that this may be a stunt is part of a bigger roll out of the PointsBeat ad.
Another Saints beat writer, Nick Underhill with New Orleans Football, tweeted out that Brees was "fine" in reply to a concerned fan.
Saints reporter Kat Terrell echoed Underhill's tweet, saying that she communicated directly with Brees via text message.
As more tweets began to roll in, all but confirming this was just one big stunt, Jeff Duncan added a tidbit of humor, offering up official stats of Brees' lightning strike history.
Eventually, Drew himself would address the stunt on social media, joking that the lightning must have thought he was wearing a Falcons jersey.
UPDATE: Here is the official PointsBet ad where Drew appears to be struck by lightning before being struck by lightning again before the commercial ends.
As it was soon realized that the Brees lightning strike was just a stunt (likely promoting a PointsBet feature called "lightning bets") many wondered who thought this would be a good idea.
So, as far as we can tell, Drew Brees is fine—and only time will tell if PointsBet lightning stunt will lead to an effective campaign.
So far, it's not looking too good.