The COVID-19 outbreak has forced everyone into their homes for social distancing and, for those that have come into contact with the virus, actual quarantining, and as such it has disrupted nearly every aspect of life.
One of the few bright spots in the otherwise catastrophic pandemic has been the creativity we’ve seen from the entertainment world to continue trying to engage with fans and bring a little joy to people. Nothing has been as successful at doing this as the Instagram Live producer battles that have been set up by Swizz Beatz and Timbaland, who were the first to go head-to-head under the #VERZUZ tag, playing 20 hits back-to-back in a highly entertaining battle.
Since then, the battles have continued with Swizz and Timbo serving as the Don King and Bob Arum of the producer battle game on social media, pairing up producers for battles and promoting them across various platforms. It’s been highly entertaining to watch, and seeing how many big stars are watching along with fans and commenting on the battle in the live comments has been great. Recently, the Brands have begun to join in on the fun, and the results have been mixed, from the typical try-hard comments to some legitimately funny reactions — Lil Jon and T-Pain both freaked out upon realizing that the Netflix account was watching them in a very meta moment.
The star for many, however, has been the Sacramento Kings account which has popped up a few times, first in the Mannie Fresh-Scott Storch battle to weigh in on how the two were doing. Then, on Saturday night during T-Pain and Lil Jon’s highly entertaining battle, when Lil Jon threw on “Lovers & Friends” by Usher, the Kings account got, well, a bit personal.
Someone check on the Sacramento Kings social media intern man hes going through it pic.twitter.com/1V1gNFyhnO
— Hoops Reference (@HoopsReference) April 5, 2020
There is something hysterical about a team account saying their ex broke up with them to this song. When you think of a team account you don’t think of the social media manager running it, but the team as a whole or even a specific player that represents that team, so it’s very funny to imagine, like, Buddy Hield being transported back to a lost love while Usher croons during an Instagram Live battle. Some have thought the Kings social media person has simply forgotten to log off the company account, but given that the Kings account always operates on the edge and isn’t afraid of doing something weird or wild in the effort to be funny (and often is, it’s one of the best team accounts out there) this is surely purposeful.
If the effort is keeping people engaged with you and thinking about your account, then this approach is surely working. Mostly, I hope that the Kings social media person is doing alright and is no longer dwelling on that ex that left them at what I have to imagine was a homecoming dance while everyone else was grinding to Usher, Ludacris, and Lil Jon.