Baker Mayfield’s social media feud with Fort Worth company blew up, but ended gracefully
Baker Mayfield doesn’t need any help getting attention.
The Cleveland Browns quarterback has been a lightning rod for controversy — real, overblown and just plain silly — ever since he became a household name as a walk-on phenomenon at Texas Tech and later a Heisman winner at Oklahoma.
On Monday, Mayfield posted a plea to Fort Worth-based American Airlines on Twitter. It quickly blew up and looked destined to end in a burning pile of online carnage. For once, however, this online feud has a graceful ending.
Here’s what happened.
His fiancée Emily Wilkinson had her flight canceled. It wasn’t just some random flight, either. It was a direct flight taking her to her bachelorette party. Mayfield wasn’t pleased and let American hear it.
“Changed her ticket and seat.. it’s no longer nonstop. I’m not sure how y’all do business but I’m pretty sure this isn’t how it’s supposed to go.... AND without a refund,” he posted.
Some basement trolls tried to disparage Mayfield for being out of touch with average people. In reality, average people have this happen all the time and guess what? They also lash out at companies on Twitter.
It gets worse before it gets better, so bare with me.
Even denser people lobbed shots at Mayfield for not paying for his fiancée to fly a charter or private jet to her destinations. So to some, you’re a prima donna for complaining like the common man, and to others you’re slumming if you’re not taking a private Gulfstream G650 to get Chinese food across town.
Mayfield’s tweet has been retweeted almost 3,000 times and liked over 42,000. One of the replies was from Tony Posnanski, a writer and younger brother of famed sports journalist and author Joe Posnanski. He replied to Mayfield with “sorry your fiancée gets treated like every other human being.”
Mayfield came right back, tweeting to Posnanski: “Actually I’m the one saying something Tony... get lost. If I can take care of her I’m going to. Is that so hard to comprehend? Chivalry is dead in your eyes.”
Let’s just gloss over Mayfield’s chivalry claim since it’s possible he was trying to be humorous. If not, if complaining to an airline via social media counts as chivalry in 2019 we’re all doomed.
Posnanski, perhaps realizing he came on too angrily, tried to clarify his tweet with some reason: “Okay...what good did this do? Did she get that direct flight they obviously canceled? What amazing things did you do with your tweet Mr. Romance?”
Posnanski is now firmly out of line. His first comment could have been written off as a tepid attempt at humor or soft moralizing. Now, he’s trying to prove a misguided point.
Baker didn’t miss a beat. “You remind me of my good friend @ColinCowherd. We should all grab dinner soon,” he replied.
Cowherd, if you’ve forgotten, is the radio and television host who famously had Mayfield on his show “The Herd” in June 2018 to tell him that he didn’t have what it takes to be a franchise quarterback.
Cowherd, on Twitter, chimed in that dinner was “On me.”
Cowherd’s inclusion into the mess helped spawn a different thread of stupidity with fans on both sides spewing mostly meaningless shots at everyone involved.
Meanwhile, American Airlines tweeted out to Mayfield offering to help him reschedule the flight. And it’s probably a good bet that American made it right.
But here’s the really good news about this Twitter kerfuffle: It has a reasonable, placid ending.
Posnanski conceded the argument, which elicited a measured response from Mayfield.
“All in good fun, enjoy your Monday,” Mayfield posted.
Posnanski put a nice bow on the squabble with, “You’re a good man. And trust me, I am rooting for you.”
And the world lived as one.
This story was originally published March 27, 2019 at 8:53 AM.