We’ve covered a lot of crazy rumors throughout our years at LBS, but this one may be wilder than all of them.
Texas Longhorns special teams coach Jeff Banks was the center of all sorts of negative attention on Monday due to a rumor involving his significant other.
Houston and College Station-based photographer Tom Campbell started things when he tweeted that the pet monkey belonging to Banks attacked and hurt a young Trick-or-Treater on Halloween Sunday.
I'm hearing a repot from a credible source that Texas Longhorns Special Teams Coach Jeff Banks' monkey allegedly attacked and seriously hurt a young Trick-or-Treater last night on Halloween.
The monkey's jaws apparently had to be pried off the small child.
— Tom Campbell (@thomasgcampbell) November 1, 2021
The rumor sounds crazy right? But it appears to be true and even confirmed by Banks’ significant other.
Let’s start with this: Danielle (Dani) Banks, described by some sources as his girlfriend and others as his wife, is the significant other of Jeff Banks.
Over the weekend, Dani promoted on social media that she was hosting a haunted house at her home on Sunday and that kids and adults were welcome to attend.
— Tom Campbell (@thomasgcampbell) November 2, 2021
Now that we know she was having people at her home for a haunted house, the next question is whether a monkey attack occurred. It looks like one indeed occurred.
Dani commented on the matter via Twitter before later deleting her account. She appeared to confirm the story and denied responsibility. Instead, she blamed the child for not following the house rules.
“I had a haunted house on one side gated off/ he had no permission to go pass (sic) the gate i had no idea he went in my back yard. neither did i know anything about a bite ! Until a doctor of neighborhood told me the treat a small bite. No parent have contacted me about it !” she wrote.
“People lie so much it’s ridiculous !” she wrote. “Stop believing everything u (sic) hear ! And more of what u (sic) see ! SMH!”
She responded to a question on Twitter about the allegation.
“No one was viciously attack this a lie , a whole lie ! She was not apart of any haunted house , the kid did not have permission to be on the other side of my property !”
“A 11 /12 year old child should know better then (sic) to enter someone yard without permission and old enough to also follow the rules . The rules were when u get to the gate turn around and come back out for candy every other parent and child did so !”
You can see some of the deleted tweets here:
Presented without comment… pic.twitter.com/1GbwjT12er
— Rod Babers (@rodbabers) November 2, 2021
The other tweets were uncovered by Larry Brown Sports through a search of the cache of Dani’s Twitter account.
Some tweets from Dani Banks' now-deactivated Twitter account that addressed the alleged monkey attack pic.twitter.com/pljPCiDBvV
— Larry Brown Sports (@larrybrownsport) November 2, 2021
In one of the tweets, Dani said the monkey belonged to her and not Jeff.
“Stop with the lies and this is my monkey not Jeffs (sic) , so why try and bash him for something that at has nothing to do with him !”
At minimum, this is a serious incident that will likely attract legal attention. But there is much more to the story, if you can believe that.
Keep following.
Jeff Banks’ profile on Texas’ website says he has three children. Further rumors have said that Banks left his wife to be with Dani.
That’s not all.
Dani was (is?) a stripper who went/goes by the stage name “Pole Assassin.” She even appeared on Jerry Springer in 2017 as “Pole Assassin” and performed on the show.
@Pole_Assassin = #GOAT!!!! Is this the greatest pole dancer to ever hit our stage? #JerrySpringer pic.twitter.com/TJvM8yu3qE
— Jerry Springer Show (@SpringerTV) November 23, 2017
Don’t believe it’s the same woman? In 2017, the now-deleted “dani_andjb” Twitter account she runs tweeted a reply to the Jerry Springer account that shared her video and said “thank u for having me.”
🤣😂You CAN NOT make this 💩 up!!!!😂🤣
The Longhorns just hired Jeff Banks who left his wife and kids to be with a stripper named Pole Assassin who has been on Jerry Springer and has a pet monkey who is a part of her stripping act!🤣😂
Which ‘Core Value’ is this again!?🤣😂🤣 pic.twitter.com/h4tujmTfQn
— Clayton Mott (@MottThunder2) January 15, 2021
Still following me? Because the story doesn’t end there.
When Dani, aka “Pole Assassin” would perform on stage, she incorporated a monkey into her act!
Not only does Dana have her own Pole Assassin Instagram account, but she also created an Instagram account for the monkey that is part of her act.
This is one huge mess that Texas, Jeff and Dani did not need and definitely wanted to avoid.
Jeff, 46, is in his first season at Texas after spending three at Alabama. He was a punter in college at Washington State and was a coach at Texas A&M from 2013-2017. Banks is regarded as a top recruiter.
