It makes for an awesome headline, but the NCAA did not shut down the GoFundMe for coronavirus victims set up by Trevor Lawrence and his girlfriend. As a respectable protector of quality journalism in the sports media industry, I waited till all the facts came out before publishing my article.
Okay fine, I just didn’t get to it in time.
Everybody got their usual NCAA bashing jokes in Tuesday afternoon, and the takes went wild on Twitter after Lawrence’s girlfriend Marissa Mowry put out an Instagram video saying the GoFundMe page for had to be taken down.
I get push notifications for pretty much everything on my phone so it’s impossible to miss anything. As it turns out, none of these headlines are true.
Bleacher Report: NCAA stops Trevor Lawrence
Yahoo: NCAA shuts down Lawrence’s GoFundMe
TheScore: NCAA shuts down Lawrence fundraiser
The message did not come from the NCAA, but from Clemson University, according to Grace Raynor, who covers the team for The Athletic. Not to brag, I do subscribe to The Athletic because I’m a better sports fan than you.
Important context regarding the Trevor Lawrence situation: Clemson did not hear directly from the NCAA. It was the school’s compliance department that asked him to take it down in keeping with NCAA rules. @TheAthleticCFB
— Grace Raynor (@gmraynor) March 24, 2020
Lawrence and Mowry need to get a waiver to set up a GoFundMe for coronavirus victims, which they could probably get.
The $2,670 raised will go to Meals on Wheels and No Kid Hungry organizations instead.
Keep the conversation going by reaching out to Erik Buchinger on Twitter or email erik@deceptivespeed.com.