Standing on the stage of the victory parade, the recent Super Bowl winner Stafford just turned his back on a woman who had fallen off the stage. The camera caught it perfectly as Matthew Stafford just turned away casually taking a sip from the bottle after the fall. Here is a clip of that incident shared by TMZ Sports:
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The injured woman is a photographer named Kelly Smiley. She later tweeted out that she was at the hospital and had suffered a spine fracture. She also broke two of her cameras in the unfortunate accident.
Stafford saw her fall and told Kelly to take care of it pic.twitter.com/FmzGJNZQXf
— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) February 17, 2022
Kelly Smiley’s friend, Tim Kothlow started a GoFundMe Campaign to help her through this difficult time. The campaign will help facilitate her medical expenses and repair costs for the broken equipment.
No mercy for Stafford’s reaction
Even on the campaign page, people have taken shots at Stafford. A donor commented, “Kurt Warner would have dropped everything to help. Stafford is a disgrace!!”
Social media quickly shut him down and called out his “unsympathetic” reaction. Although, it is tough to assess his complete reaction as the clip does cut down as soon as he turns back.
He could’ve turned around to find help. But he didn’t even walk to the edge to see what happened. And as far as the visuals go, Stafford earned himself a ‘red card’ from social media users for his abrupt reaction.
Is Matthew Stafford a bad guy?
One could speculate that Stafford knew that the place had enough people to help the photographer out. Yet the way he turns around in the video looks indifferent to the viewers. And on the other hand, his wife goes to the edge to check on the lady. Which seems like the right thing to do at such a moment.
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But maybe Stafford was just out of it. The fact is he was sporting beer bottles and tequilas throughout the parade, as one does. And maybe his mind just went, “Oops, I’m out.” As Jalen Ramsey very well put it:
People bashing Mathew are ridiculous. I get it. Prob not a good look. But there were plenty people around to rush to her. Including Kelly. Mathew isn’t a bad guy just because he was like whoops I’m out.
— Jalen Ramsi (@jalen_ramsi5) February 17, 2022
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Brady had advised Stafford
Having stood at the same spot as Matthew Stafford a year ago, Brady had advised Stafford to mix in water with all of the other beverages. Presumably to keep things balanced and hydrated but it remains a mystery if Brady’s friendly advice reached the Super Bowl LVI winner.
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In any case, social media users are keen to hear what Stafford will say on the matter. Although, it seems unlikely that there is any redemption possible in this case.
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