Retired NFL legend Jerry Rice unloaded on some Kansas City-based reporters on Thursday at the American Century Championship in Lake Tahoe.
Rice was asked by the Chiefs media members if the Chiefs’ wide receivers were “good enough to win a Super Bowl.”
For whatever reason, Rice was highly offended by the question and threatened the reporters physically.
“I will (expletive) you up,” Rice could be heard saying as he went nose-to-nose with the reporter. “If you want some, come get some!”
Rice was quickly escorted away as the reporters were left in complete bewilderment.
“(That was) the craziest thing that’s ever happened in my life,” one of the men said.
On Friday, Starcade Media, which employs the two reporters, released an official statement and shared new video of the confrontation with Rice.
We have sat on this video for a day as we wanted absolutely no negative publicity for Jerry Rice or the tournament but this TMZ story has now come to light and we feel the need to set the record straight on what took place.
We meant absolutely no disrespect to Jerry or the… pic.twitter.com/EJ7OB6QZY5
— Starcade Media (@StarcadeMediaKC) July 12, 2024
“We have sat on this video for a day as we wanted absolutely no negative publicity for Jerry Rice or the tournament but this TMZ story has now come to light and we feel the need to set the record straight on what took place,” the company wrote on social media. “We meant absolutely no disrespect to Jerry or the 49ers when asking this question as we have a profound respect for the great players that have played this game, especially (in our opinion) the greatest receiver of all time.
“The confrontation that followed was very unfortunate but we were not trying to elicit a negative reaction and there were no ‘smirks’ as Mr. Rice suggested. We simply wanted the input of the greatest receiver in league’s history about the Chiefs receiving corps and if it had improved enough to continue winning at a high level after an historically rough season for the group.
“We would be more than open to speaking with Jerry personally to clear the air on what happened and put it all behind us.”
Starcade Media took the high road after a very bizarre and seemingly unexplainable meltdown by Rice to what seemed like a justified question.
