No, That Allen Iverson Quote Being Passed Around Isn’t Real
Yesterday, a quote from former Sixers guard Allen Iverson began to be passed around the Internet. It hit Facebook, it hit Twitter. National media members retweeted it. Thousands of people actually thought this quote was real:
It’s not, obviously. Even more fun: The quote is from City Paper’s Bell Curve, the jokey news recap of the week.
It’s hilarious how many people thought this insanely fake quote was real. (To be fair, endless appetizers were introduced in 2014, so that part is plausible.)
The fake quote stems from a story Matt Barnes told in Sports Illustrated a month ago. When Barnes was on the Sixers for a season, he said Iverson used to throw “$30,000 to $40,000” at the strip club every time they went. “I used to take my foot and scoop the shit under my chair and either re-throw it or put some in my pocket,” he told SI.
Iverson then refuted that claim. “I was rich at 21, so ain’t no telling what I may have done, but I know I ain’t do that,” he told WIP. That refutation is what the City Paper Bell Curve quote is poking fun at.
While the first story was told by an ex-teammate and published in Sports Illustrated. That’s fair to believe. But people are willing to believe anything about Allen Iverson. Hence the reaction to the City Paper quote, which defies all logic as real. (T.G.I. Friday’s would let strippers into the bar?)
Last year, a satirical news website posted a story about Allen Iverson begging for change outside of a mall in Atlanta. This story circulated as real, too, so much so that the International Business Times debunked it. The story is still making the rounds as real today! (One Twitter user has moved the location to MGM Grand.) Even if Iverson’s broke, he’s not destitute. He just did a $300-a-head appearance at Comic Con! (Update: Never mind. He no-showed Comic Con.)
Obviously, plenty of people believe anything they read on the Internet. And stories of Iverson’s free-spending ways have been spreading around Philadelphia and the world for decades now, so people are even more likely to believe Iverson brought strippers into T.G.I. Friday’s or is begging for change or has joined the circus as a lion tamer (I made this last one up).
So I think there needs to be a new rule: If you hear a ridiculous tale about Allen Iverson, assume it’s false. It’s only fair to The Answer.
