Source: Photo of Minshew wearing joke sweatshirt a social media hoax
An image of Raiders quarterback Gardner Minshew wearing a sweatshirt making light of his past rivalry with new teammate Maxx Crosby was not authentic, a source close to the team said.
A photo that showed Minshew wearing a black sweatshirt with the phrase “Lil Ass Boy” across the chest was the top trending Raiders topic on social media for much of Tuesday and Wednesday. The Nike swoosh logo was shown above the wording.
The Review-Journal was one of several media outlets to post a story and the photo that went viral.
It was represented as Minshew’s way of making light of a video that emerged during last season’s game between the Colts, whom he played for before signing with the Raiders this offseason, and Las Vegas that showed a mic’d up Minshew complaining to teammates that Crosby kept calling him “Lil Ass Boy.”
At his introductory news conference with the Raiders, Minshew made fun of the situation by referring to Crosby as a “big ass boy.”
The origin of the photoshopped image is unclear, but was reposted on the account of Crosby and his podcast, “The Rush.” Both posts appear to promote a Friday appearance by Minshew on the podcast to discuss the shirt.
Crosby and Minshew didn’t discuss the image during Friday’s podcast. They did discuss the game during which Crosby was calling him “Lil Ass Boy.”
Several high profile social media accounts circulated the image, which in some iterations gave a photo credit to the Raiders’ official site. An account belonging to Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy was amplified the most.
During “The Pat McAfee Show” on ESPN on Thursday, “Gardner Minshew debuts ‘Lil Ass Boy’ sweatshirt ahead of his appearance on The Rush with Maxx Crosby” appeared on the news ticker.
Similar shirts are now for sale online without the Nike logo.
Messages sent to Nike and Minshew’s agent seeking comment were not returned.
The Raiders began organized team activities Monday.
Contact Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com. Follow @AdamHillLVRJ on X.
