Rarely does a situation turn out well when it involves a blonde wig, a fake mustache, and a Planet Hollywood casino in Las Vegas.
For Cleveland Browns quarterback Johnny Manziel, however, it was just another night on the town — specifically, it was a night when his teammates were preparing for the regular season finale on the following Sunday without a clue as to Manziel’s location.
A statement from ESPN Las Vegas reads:
We all know Vegas stories can get extremely crazy involving celebrities. This is going to sound wild, and maybe hard to believe, but this is what we’re hearing regarding Johnny Manziel.
Our sources tell us Manziel was at a popular night club on the strip Saturday night. The QB entered wearing a blonde wig, a fake mustache, glasses, and a hoodie.
Manziel introduced himself as “Billy.”
According to USA Today and Cleveland.com, Manizel wasn’t going to play in the Sunday Jan. 3 game. He had received a concussion and Browns head coach Mike Pettine had said that Manziel was not allowed, according to NFL-mandated concussion protocol, to play in the Jan. 3 game or even to be on the sidelines.
The Browns require, however, that players be at the team’s training facility in Berea, Ohio if they are unable to play during a game. Pettine admitted on Sunday that he had no clue where Manziel was — an admission which came just before Browns owner Jimmy Haslam fired Pettine, no less.
As for Manziel, the 23-year-old athlete has a history of bad behavior. He reportedly overslept for the team’s Dec. 27 season finale in 2014 after he spent the night partying with teammate Josh Gordon. Gordon was suspended after violating the NFL’s substance abuse policy, and Manziel entered rehab for alcohol abuse in February 2015.
Manziel’s antics are certainly great headlines for news outlets, but social media users wasted no time generating their own jabs and memes from the incident this past weekend. Considering that nearly 90% of all 20-somethings are active on social media, it’s not surprising that news of Manziel’s Vegas trip spread like wildfire.
Manziel took to social media himself, attempting to remedy the situation, posting a selfie with his dog on Saturday and later tagged the location as “Avon, Ohio” (his current residence) to “prove” that he was not in Las Vegas.
There still seems to be no official consensus from the Browns as to Manziel’s location, but multiple witnesses in Las Vegas have confirmed that the QB paid for his vacation with a credit card under his (real) name, and photo evidence is rumored to be floating around.