The Tampa Bay Buccaneers found themselves in the middle of a social media mess this week after a post tying a brutal Yellowstone bison attack to one of their own touchdown celebrations drew backlash and then disappeared.
The now-deleted post used video of Tampa Bay wide receiver Tez Johnson’s twisting flip in the end zone alongside footage of a 65-year-old man being attacked by a bison at Yellowstone National Park. The team put it up Monday, then pulled it by Tuesday after the reaction turned ugly.
The victim, Carl McDaniel, was injured at Bridge Bay Compound in the park around 8:30 p.m. Friday while walking with his grandson.
Viral video of the incident showed the bison chasing McDaniel through a stand of trees before launching him into the air. McDaniel later told CNN that the attack left him with a femur broken in four places.
He has already undergone surgery and said he is back on his feet.
'I will be doing physical therapy for the next few days to get to walk, but it was not as catastrophic as it could have been,' he said.
McDaniel also said the roughly 2,000-pound bison could have killed him.
'When I was on the ground, immobile, unable to move, he was right on top of me,' McDaniel told CNN. 'He could have stomped on me, he could have gored me, he could have done almost anything to take my life and he did not do so.'
The Buccaneers’ decision to delete the post didn’t sit well with some fans, who blasted the team online.
'This country has become so soft,' one fan wrote, adding, 'no sense of humor!!'
'The Bucs are some b****es,' another added. 'They should've kept that shit up.'
One critic complained that 'they're (sic) social media team has been woke garbage (sic) for years.'
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