Damar Hamlin Isn't Staying Silent On Conspiracy Theories About His Cardiac Arrest Recovery
It seems like no one is immune to a conspiracy theory these days — even if you suffered a serious health emergency on live TV. Well, that's exactly what happened to Damar Hamlin after the Buffalo Bills confirmed he experienced a cardiac arrest during the team's January 2 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, per ESPN. The horrific moment, which was being watched by millions, saw Hamlin drop to the ground following a tackle before having to be resuscitated by medics.
He was transported immediately to hospital and, thankfully, Hamlin has been doing a lot better since. So much better in fact that the NFL star was well enough to watch the Bills take on the Bengals again during their January 22 match up at Highmark Stadium in New York. The Bills' official Twitter account shared a video of Hamlin arriving at the stadium wearing dark glasses with his hood up, shortly before the account shared a second video of the athlete applauding the team from what appeared to be an enclosed suite. The clip gave a clear view of Hamlin's side while he still had his hood up, though the front view only showed him through pouring down rain, obscuring his face.
That left some room for conspiracy theorists to suggest something more sinister was going on and maybe the Bills player wasn't actually really there — but the real Hamlin wasn't taking the speculation sitting down.
Damar Hamlin hit back at the body double allegations
Damar Hamlin had a tongue in cheek response for all those suggesting a stand in or body double may have taken his place at the Buffalo Bills game, sharing a photo to Twitter on January 23 of himself standing alongside a mural of himself and looking down alongside the caption, "Clone," with a ninja emoji.
The cryptic caption appeared to be in reference to a (pretty bizarre) rumor going around in which some social media users (like this one, this one, and this one) suggested Hamlin may have died on the field on January 2 and a fake version of him was sent out to the game to make it seem as though he is still alive. Of course, there were plenty dispelling the speculation too, with one person writing, "People really think damar Hamlin died, and there's a clone because they haven't shown his face. Do you not understand what happens to people go through something like that?" one person tweeted, suggesting his face may have been swollen as a result of his injury and medications. "To the people that sincerely think Damar Hamlin is a clone... seek help," another person bluntly tweeted.
TMZ Sports went as far as to question insiders about all the online clone chatter, with one source confirming that there is no truth at all to the speculation and it really was Hamlin at the game. So there we have it.