DeAndre Hopkins had a monster night on Sunday, as perhaps the best wide receiver in the NFL caught 10 passes for 103 yards and a score in the Arizona Cardinals’ 37-34 overtime win against the Seattle Seahawks. Prior to the game, Hopkins caused a bit of a stir on social media, as images popped up of him driving past Donald Trump supporters on the highway and flipping them off.
According to the Arizona Republic, Hopkins was swerving through a caravan of individuals who support the president’s re-election bid and tossed his middle fingers in the air. Hopkins, in an appearance on the All Things Covered podcast with Bryant McFadden, made no secret that he flipped the bird, although as he explained it, this was a matter of getting a particularly nasty cramp above all else.
“I really was about to give the peace sign to them, but this finger was kinda hurting so it didn’t make it up in time…”
You have to hear @DeAndreHopkins side of the story about what happened on the way to the game the other night…
— Bryant McFadden (@BMac_SportsTalk) October 27, 2020
“Driving down the highway I guess I got in between a train or a bunch of cars that I wasn’t supposed to be in between in my car,” Hopkins said. “And they was honking the horn at me and stuff like that, I guess to tell me to get out of their way, and I didn’t. And the guy in front of me stepped on his breaks and tried to stop dead in traffic, and I got around him and I stuck him a birdie. I really was about to do the peace sign to him, but this finger right here was kinda hurting, so it didn’t make it up in time.”
Hopkins went onto say that this was not a political gesture, but rather, a response to the aforementioned person driving in a way that prevented him from getting around.
“I was like, ‘Damn, dude, you’re trying to stop on breaks in dead traffic, ’cause I’m in you guys’ train or whatnot, just trying to go to work?’” Hopkins explained. “So, yeah, it wasn’t nothing, nothing thrown out the car or anything like that. No speeding. Obviously, you see me right there. If I was in a Ferrari speeding, I don’t think you would be able to take a still picture of me. But yeah, that’s all.”
As someone who has walked on a sidewalk as one of these described Trump Trains has gone past, I can confirm that they move extremely slowly, and it is nigh impossible to get around one of them. As for whether you can have two index fingers cramp up at one time, well, that’s a different story, but even if he’s not quite telling the truth, let he who has never flipped someone off on the highway cast the first stone.