Stafford Watches Fan (Photag?) Fall at Parade, Dips
I am as concerned as anybody else for the well-being of this woman (really, I hope she didn't get hurt), but I have to admit Stafford's reaction is pretty funny:
February 17th, 2022 at 12:21 PM ^
She suffered a spinal fracture and is in the hospital so....
February 17th, 2022 at 12:23 PM ^
Really?!! Wow, I did not know that. That is a true bummer. I guess Matthew wasn't able to deal with that at the time.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:56 PM ^
He was drunker than a peach orchard boar. It's probably best for all involved that he just walked away.
February 17th, 2022 at 9:20 PM ^
Update: he’s paying her medical bills and replacing broken camera equipment
February 17th, 2022 at 12:25 PM ^
Yikes - tragic event, pathetic and immature human response on Matt’s part. Still pumped for his awesome accomplishments on the football field. We all have moments of which we are not proud.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:40 PM ^
More on that:
Also, sorry it's from E. It was either that or brobible.
NFL photographer Kelly Smiley fractured her spine after falling backwards off a stage while working the Los Angeles Rams' Feb. 13 Super Bowl victory parade.
Rushed to the hospital, Smiley tweeted that she suffered injuries to her spine and also broke her two cameras.
A friend of the photographer (who also shared pics of her hospital experience on her personal Instagram, including one asking, "How am I supposed to sleep like this lol"), set up a GoFundMe page to help raise at least $30,000 to cover Smiley's "growing medical expenses as well as replace the camera gear that was severely damaged due to her fall."
February 17th, 2022 at 12:46 PM ^
The look this projects on Stafford is not good, although a hammered dude would not have helped in any way. If I were his agent, I'd be on the phone with the woman to say the medical care is taken care of. 30 Grand from Stafford is a drop in the bucket and the public image worth buying.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:50 PM ^
Yea, seems like he has some public relations things he might want to clean up here after seeing how severe the injury was. He looked like he had a lot to drink in the video and just went back to the party.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:52 PM ^
Was thinking exactly the same thing. It doesnt matter if he was drunk or that he had nothing to do with her fall. His reaction (or rather, lack of reaction) will be all people remember.
If I was his agent I'd strongly recommend he write the 30K check to her gofundme and apologize for not being more helpful and give credit to his wife for stepping in.
Make this a one day story, not a three day story.
Edit: At about 5pm EST today Matt and Kelly Stafford announced they would be covering ALL the photographer's medical expenses
February 17th, 2022 at 2:20 PM ^
Fuck all of this pandering to optics. If Matt Stafford's reaction to someone falling off a float while he was hammered at a SB parade he's been waiting his entire career for is "all people will remember", then people need some actual important shit to think about.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:26 PM ^
So what is the important shit? If seeing someone fall and break their spine right in front of you isn’t important, what is? Playing a football game?
February 17th, 2022 at 2:39 PM ^
It's at a parade with paramedics, police, etc. He didn't have the reaction you wanted him to have, great. Would his reaction have improved her health, condition, recovery? No. Imagine if everything you've ever done in life was on camera and posted on the internet. Learn to let some shit slide.
February 17th, 2022 at 3:18 PM ^
rethink the lens you use to view the world
February 17th, 2022 at 5:16 PM ^
Yikes
February 17th, 2022 at 5:35 PM ^
I'm using my "This is the worst take in the world" card for this take. I rarely use the card but I think it's warranted here.
February 17th, 2022 at 7:07 PM ^
It's by no means a crisis, but a major public figure showing callous indifference to a serious injury has consequences unrelated to the woman's immediate medical need. This is particularly true when the figure is revered by young people across the country.
That may sound dramatic, but if the last 6 years have taught us anything, it's that inhumanity can spread like wildfire.
I suspect your failure to see this is what's causing you to react this way.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:19 PM ^
I laughed at first when I thought she maybe just tripped and fell backwards, stopped laughing once I noticed it was probably a 10ft drop.
Seems to me like a stage that appears to be 10+ feet off the ground would be a HUGE liability risk. Hopefully for her she wont need to rely on a gofundme to take care of these expenses.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:23 PM ^
What, why on Earth would you pay for some reporter falling off a stage? He had no connection to this other than the fact some other nosey parker happened to be videoing his reaction. A reaction, I might mention we have all had when someone fell off something.
Pay money to someone you've never met, who you did nothing to, and something they did to themselves. Just because he's rich?? This is one of the dumber things I've ever heard in my life and I'm old enough to have heard a lot of stupid things.
Ten minutes from now no one is going to remember this happened. I know I won't. It's not his problem.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:38 PM ^
A reaction, I might mention we have all had when someone fell off something.
Would you really be that nonchalant about a person falling off a 10-foot stage? Look at his wife's reaction.
He has no legal responsibility to give her money, but given that 1) this video makes him look pretty bad and 2)she's apparently in financial need to cover her medical expenses, it seems like an easy move for him to make.
February 17th, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
Whoever organized the event should cover the expense, not Stafford, and he should say as much. Appropriate thing to do would be to offer his well wishes to her and invite her to contact him in the event the organizer doesn't follow through with covering her bills.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:47 PM ^
"Pay money to someone you've never met, who you did nothing to, and something they did to themselves. Just because he's rich?? This is one of the dumber things I've ever heard in my life and I'm old enough to have heard a lot of stupid things."
Nope. Pay money to someone you've never met because their is a video circurlating that makes you look very, very bad and and the companies that you are paid to endorse (Nike, PepsiCo, Fanatics, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Ford Motor Co and Panini to name just a few) dont like negative publicity very much.
This has nothing to do with guilt or his wealth. This has everything to do with being smart and realizing that in the court of public opinion a video like this is pretty damning. It shows her falling, him turning and walking away while his wife rushes to her assistance. Contributing to her gofundme would go a long way, IMO, to minimize the PR damage.
Oh yeah, and one more thing. It would actually be a pretty nice thing to do.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:53 PM ^
To dispute your point, maybe because you have career earnings of over a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS and might help someone out not having to worry about paying for what portends to be an expensive and arduous return to health
February 17th, 2022 at 1:58 PM ^
--carpetbagger... wtf is wrong with you??? The woman was trying to cover his party to make him more popular and make more money... at least his wife (who i bet was drinking also) helped out.. this makes him look like an ass---- Geez, I hope my grandmother never slips in front of you...
February 17th, 2022 at 2:09 PM ^
Yes, absolutely, when I'm plastered drunk and your incredibly young grandmother slips in front of me while doing something stupid, the very first thing "I" should do is try to assist. I mean, what are the other 500 people, who aren't drunk, going to do without my assistance??
Don't be so dramatic Patricia. If your real Grandma slipped in front of me and I could assist, I wouldn't think twice about it.
Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about this way past 10 minutes because I'm completely bumfuzzled anyone thinks Stafford somehow owes this photag some of his hard earned pay because she fell off a stage on her own. Pretty easy to spend other people's money for some of you.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:19 PM ^
"Meanwhile, I'm still thinking about this way past 10 minutes because I'm completely bumfuzzled anyone thinks Stafford somehow owes this photag some of his hard earned pay because she fell off a stage on her own"
I'm trying to figure out if you're purposively being obtuse, are increadibly young and naive about public perception and how it relates to endorsement income or just brutally stupid. It could be any or all of the three so I'm going to type this real loud in the hope that it gets through this time.
NOBODY IS SUGGESTING STAFFORD OWES THIS WOMAN ANYTHING. EVERYONE, EXCEPT YOU IT SEEMS, UNDERSTANDS THAT THE VIDEO MAKES HIM LOOK LIKE SHIT AND THAT CONTRIBUTING A SMALL AMOUNT OF MONEY (AND YES, 30K WHEN YOU'RE NET WORTH IS PUSHING 9 FIGURES IS SMALL) TO HER RECOVERY WOULD HELP BOTH HIS PUBLIC IMAGINE AND HER RECOVERY.
Do you get it now or are you still bumfuzzled? Because I dont have a larger font to type in.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:43 PM ^
Saying someone should pay her bills for her own actions sounds like people think he OWES it to her to me, or they wouldn't suggest it would be a bad look if he didn't. That's axiomatic.
.001% of people will see this video. 95% of people will think it's funny she fell off the stage. 5% will investigate to find she was actually injured by her lack of paying attention to what she was doing. So, $30k to make 5% of .001% feel better about themselves for the 10 minutes they will remember this happened?
Stupid.
February 17th, 2022 at 3:37 PM ^
I'm with you- Stafford and the Rams don't owe her shit! In fact, he should've run over and kicked her while she was on the ground!
February 17th, 2022 at 5:18 PM ^
1 minor point of correction - his net worth is almost certainly over 9 figures at this point. Decent chance in another decade, if he has invested well, that it will be pushing 10 figures. Thinking about that amount of money for "just" a good-to-great quarterback is absolutely mind-bottling.
February 17th, 2022 at 3:22 PM ^
fantastic human qualities there, CB.
what goes around comes around
February 17th, 2022 at 2:16 PM ^
oof. "nosey parker" is some serious dickitude. i guess if you're going to be a dick, you might as well go LOUD dick.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:46 PM ^
Word of advice, Never, and I cannot emphasize never enough, go into public relations.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:50 PM ^
This made me laugh. I would never consider it. I do know my limitations. Generally. Somehow I still said what I thought on this thread. Now I remember why I usually don't.
February 17th, 2022 at 10:35 PM ^
You lack any decency, common sense, or critical thinking skills. So it’s probably best not to say what you’re thinking. Ever.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:36 PM ^
God people are so dumb...we're going to judge a person's entire moral character based on a 5-second clip of a reaction while completely plastered, at an event where there were thousands of people, including security and (probably) paramedics on hand to help out in that exact situation. Not to mention his wife was right there too.
It didn't look good, but I'm not exactly sure how we wanted Stafford to react, exactly. There's a bunch of people acting like he pushed her or some shit. "He should have showed more concern!"...how? By looking over the ledge? Did he even realize she was hurt? Frankly, staying out of the way is literally the best thing he could have in that situation - he was in no position to offer any sort of help, and "showing concern" means jack shit in that situation anyway.
Unfortunately, the PR does look bad though, and I'm guessing he will donate to her medical fund or something. Maybe the Rams will eventually cover their costs, who knows.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:03 PM ^
I know nothing about Stafford’s moral character, and I’m not saying you have to hate the man. That said, his reaction in that video looks awful. She falls about 10 feet and is injured (requiring hospitalization) and he looks like he doesn’t give a shit. All anyone would expect from him there is to say “Are you OK?” Show a bit of concern for someone who suffered a serious injury right in front of his face. That’s it. His wife managed to figure this out.
February 17th, 2022 at 2:15 PM ^
I suppose show a little concern--the woman just fell off a 10 foot stage backwards.. we dont expect him to do any medical treatment -- sorry even drunk most of us would be concerned..
February 17th, 2022 at 5:08 PM ^
I take issue with "even drunk most of us would be concerned". I don't think this is remotely true. Drunk people can be completely oblivious to the environment around them, especially when you go from "drunk" to "blackout drunk".
February 17th, 2022 at 6:35 PM ^
did he look even close to "blackout" drunk... at most he was a little tipsy... wasnt even stumbling around the stage...give me a break...
February 17th, 2022 at 2:22 PM ^
a hammered dude would not have helped in any way.
That he was (presumably) drunk is beside the point; he's not a medical professional. No one would expect him to provide treatment himself, in any event. But he could have had the presence of mind to call out for help and maybe stay with her until said help arrived.
February 17th, 2022 at 4:10 PM ^
Check for 30K and replace the gear.
February 17th, 2022 at 6:13 PM ^
There's a GoFundMe for her:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/r85ce-help-kelly-get-back-on-her-feet
February 17th, 2022 at 1:14 PM ^
Yikes. Wouldn't the liability be on the NFL and its insurance carrier? Or City of LA? Or whatever production company set up the stage?
February 17th, 2022 at 6:04 PM ^
I wish I could this news makes me sad but if I got sad every time this happened to someone I didn't know I'd have a serious problem on my hands.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:32 PM ^
Yeah, that's a bad look and why drunk in public is problematic.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:36 PM ^
Bad look turning immediately after she fell. Kelly Stafford had the more appropriate action. Some in Detroit might not have liked her outspoken nature, but would 100% love it if my wife had my back publicly like Kelly had Matt's.
February 17th, 2022 at 12:37 PM ^
I guess I;m old and/or out of touch, but what does the article mean when they say Stafford "dips" after she falls? Is that slang for walking away or something?
February 17th, 2022 at 12:39 PM ^
yip, I mean, yep.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:13 PM ^
I was expecting to see him shove a huge wad of tobacco in his mouth a la 2015 Harbaugh. Sort of glad he didn't.
February 17th, 2022 at 1:55 PM ^
It is the successor to "bounced" which was a successor to "bailed," and in some circles "audi 5000'd"
February 17th, 2022 at 3:17 PM ^
for those confused on the last one it's because you are "outtie" like "audi"