Too soon.
The Buccaneers posted a video to X Monday featuring footage from the viral clip a bison flipping a 65-year-old man, only to delete it Tuesday with no further comment.
“Flipping out because it’s almost football season,” the caption read.
The video, meant to hype Buccaneers fans up for their upcoming season, cut from the bison flip to wide receiver Tez Johnson’s touchdown flip.
Though some found the video amusing, others, like ESPN reporter Jenna Laine, thought it was insensitive.
Laine pointed to Jill Beckman, a former social media specialist for the Buccaneers, as someone who wouldn’t post a video like the team did Monday.
“She was always informative, engaging, she humanized the team and she was funny without ever crossing the line,” Laine wrote on X. “Her work shined brightly during the team’s Super Bowl LV run. Posting a man running for his life and nearly being mauled to death doesn’t reflect what she and others worked hard to build.”
Michael Babcock, TMZ Sports’ executive producer, reposted a screenshot of the deleted video and wrote that the Buccaneers deleted it “after a bunch of blowback from fans who thought it was in poor taste.”
The incident, which happened Friday at Yellowstone National Park, featured a bison tossing Carl McDaniel eight feet into the air. McDaniel crashed to the ground, breaking his femur in four places and requiring surgery Sunday.
The 65-year-old was taking a walk with his grandson after dinner when the attack transpired, and appears to be in stable condition.
“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,” McDaniel told reporters.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
