NFL star Emeka Egbuka was forced to speak out on his social media controversy after even his own team became the victim of an imposter account.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver found himself at the center of a storm this week when an X account claiming to be him controversially questioned ‘Is CTE even real?’
Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive, fatal neurodegenerative brain disease caused by repeated head trauma, such as concussions or sub-concussive blows.
It has come under great scrutiny within the NFL community in recent years with many former players being diagnosed posthumously with the disease.
The post, shared by the handle @EgbukaEmeka, sparked backlash among NFL fans with both the Buccaneers and Egbuka himself having to address the situation.
Egbuka posted a statement on his actual Instagram account Friday afternoon, clarifying that the X account was not affiliated with him in any way.
NFL star Emeka Egbuka was forced to speak out on his social media controversy
An X account claiming to be the wide receiver shared a coontroversial post about CTE
‘I haven’t had Twitter since high school,’ Egbuka wrote. ‘That account on X isn’t me.’
However, the fake account had already duped numerous fans, including even the Buccaneers – multiple times.
The NFL franchise had accidentally helped add a pretense of legitimacy to the imposter account by tagging it on X.
The Buccaneers’ official X account first tagged @EgbukaEmeka when they announced that they had selected the wideout with the 19th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft.
Three minutes after the initial post, Tampa Bay shared a video of Commissioner Roger Goodell announcing the Egbuka pick, and once again, the account got tagged.
The Bucs went on to tag the account in 56 more posts over the course of the past year, leading many fans on social media to believe it officially belonged to Egbuka.
However, the player did not publicly dispute the use of the account in official team posts or clarify the situation with the team at any point before this week’s controversy.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ communications team was forced to address the situation
The Bucs’ X account had tagged Egbuka in multiple posts since drafting him last year
The 23-year-old is pictured at the NFL Honors in San Francisco last month
‘The below account is neither owned nor operated by Emeka Egbuka. It is in no way affiliated with Emeka or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers,’ the team’s communications account posted on Wednesday.
The rogue @EgbukaEmeka account has since been suspended by the social media platform.
However, before its suspension, it successfully managed to dupe a number of high-profile accounts besides the Bucs.
The National Football League Players Association, NFL Films and multiple media members are said to have followed the account before its disappearance this week.