Patrick Mahomes became the subject of an apparent smear campaign following the quarterback’s Super Bowl win last week.
A few days ago, on February 15 to be precise, ads claiming the Kansas City Chiefs star was dealing with “cheating allegations” pertaining to drugs taken prior to the game against the Philadelphia Eagles began showing up on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger.
The ads linked back to a site appearing to be ESPN.com and also claimed that Mahomes had been caught with male enhancement products called Erexo Plus and High Pump. An article from the site also featured fake quotes from an interview with Mahomes that obviously never took place.
“Mahomes used an off-market supplement called Erexo Plus [or High Pump] that is well known to NFL trainers to reduce inflammation and boost muscle growth by 150% in a matter of days,” it reads. “However, Mahomes says he’s done nothing wrong and that the product is ‘perfectly legal and safe’.”
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The above has since been exposed as false by Snopes.com, an investigative site specializing in misinformation. ESPN had absolutely no involvement, with the network’s logo and web design used absent their permission.
It’s still unknown who paid for the ads to be displayed across the aforementioned social media platforms. But they weren’t the only methods employed to besmirch the QB’s name as a post from a satirical Twitter account claimed that the player had failed a drug test after Super Bowl 57.
