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Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka has been ensnared in a bizarre social media snafu.
On Wednesday, an account purporting to belong to Egbuka wrote on Twitter/X, “Is CTE even real?” Shortly thereafter, the Bucs’ comms account tweeted, “The below account is neither owned nor operated by Emeka Egbuka. It is in no way affiliated with Emeka or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
The original account, @EgbukaEmeka, is now suspended by the social media platform.
However, the plot thickened as it turns out that the official Bucs account has tagged this specific, allegedly rogue Egbuka account nearly 60 times in tweets since the franchise drafted him out of Ohio State last April. ProFootballTalk founder Mike Florio also noted, prior to the account suspension, that it was followed by the official NFLPA account.
A source told FOS that the Bucs’ social media team got “duped” by the imposter Egbuka account, following it shortly after drafting him and tagging him thereafter. A spokesperson for the Bucs declined to comment.
As some on social media called attention to the team’s history of tagging the account, longtime Bucs beat writer Greg Auman noted red flags suggesting it may have been fake. That included the account only featuring “33 benign retweets over the years,” before Wednesday’s polarizing post.
Egbuka doesn’t appear to have a known X/Twitter account. He is active on Instagram, where his verified account boasts 295,000 followers.
In his rookie season in Tampa, Egbuka caught 63 balls for 938 yards and six touchdowns. The 23-year-old finished fifth in voting for AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year.
