All of that Tom Brady-Masked Singer chatter was for nothing, by the way
BOSTON -- Try, if you can, to remember all the way back to a date long, long ago, a day all the way back in ... August of 2022. 'Twas a quaint time, a simpler time, one when people could entertain themselves by dreaming up conspiracy theories about Tom Brady skipping out on work so that he could don a ridiculous costume and anonymously sing in front of millions of television viewers on a program called "The Masked Singer."
Surely you'll recall that a Reddit theory gained a whole lot of steam, as it placed Brady on the signing show. Given his agreement to work for FOX after his playing career, such a concept made some sense. Key word: some.
Alas, with the premiere having aired last week, it's quite obvious that Tom Brady was not on "The Masked Singer."
A character who went by "The Hummingbird" appeared during that premiere, and this was the character that was hyped as possibly being Brady. Some of the clues offered by Mr. Hummingbird added to that possibility, too. The clues used words like "kickoff," suggested the character thrives on competition, said he "formed a patriotic team" that "dominated the Super Bowl." Throw in a random mention of Shaquille O'Neal, and the viewers' thoughts naturally turn toward a famous athlete.
Alas, the Hummingbird then sang, and it was clearly not Tom Brady. (I'm not sure of the protocol on reporting such things ... but let's just say the Hummingbird is a former member of a boy band that rhymes with fin schwink. And his names rhymes with Miss FirkMatrick. OK, none of that rhymes. Fine. it's Chris Kirkpatrick. *NSYNC. Kirkpatrick will officially be unmasked at the start of Wednesday's episode. Spoiler alert.)
Now, whether or not people involved with FOX or the show planted that rumor on Reddit in order to drum attention, that's not known. If they did plant it, then bravo. That's some rock-solid guerrilla marketing. Regardless of the rumor's origin, the network leaning in to the rumors by releasing a clip of Ken Jeong guessing that the singer is Tom Brady was a perfect follow-up. That's Marketing 101.
It would have been some story, the greatest quarterback of all time, the most dedicated football player on Planet Earth, skipping work so he could sing on some show. Unfortunately, the tale will go down as a work of fiction.