Dianna Russini’s new show opened with a moment that turned awkward fast the second Mike Vrabel’s name entered the conversation.
On the first episode of The Russini Report, the former NFL insider was talking memes with guest Damon Amendolara when the Patriots coach came up. Amendolara asked whether she had “seen any good memes lately,” and Russini said she had been amused by the AI-generated versions of herself.
“A lot of memes out there, D. Thank you for reminding me,” she said.
“I will say, though, I do think the AI version of me is like an L.A. 10.
That is the way I want to look, my nose is small, my forehead only looks three fingers. I’m like, ‘This is what I want to look like.’”
Amendolara then pointed to the meme he liked best, one that showed several Patriots players, along with Vrabel and Russini, performing in an AI version of NPR’s “Tiny Desk.”
“To have Vrabel and Patriots playing, outstanding, and then the big reveal having you on sax, was amazing,” he said to Russini. “That to me was peak apex Dianna Russini and this whole thing with the memes.”
At that point, Russini paused and seemed to visibly react to Vrabel’s name. She still answered, saying that after actually playing saxophone in grade school, “if I had to do an instrument, that was the one I should be playing.”
The moment carried extra weight because Russini has faced allegations of an affair with Vrabel after the two were spotted together in multiple locations over several years. Both are married with children, and the photos of them together go back to Vrabel’s time as head coach of the Tennessee Titans.
Russini addressed the fallout in an interview with People this week, describing the last six months as “heartbreaking.”
“The lies became so out of control,” she added. “This was a runaway train, and there was nothing I could do to stop it.
Once we realized nothing was going to stop this, it became unhealthy for [my husband and I] to read it because it wasn’t helping us heal. It was piling on and adding to what we were already dealing with.”
As Russini moves ahead with her new show, she seems ready to leave a difficult stretch behind. The project marks her biggest step since leaving The Athletic.
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