Picking ‘The Summer I Turned Pretty’ characters for Cincinnati celebs
Who from “The Summer I Turned Pretty” would Joe Burrow be? What about Pete Rose? We made our best picks here.
Cincinnati Bengals football is nearly upon us, as Joe Burrow and company take on the Cleveland Browns in the Battle of Ohio on Sept. 7.
Burrow has a chance to add to an already long list of viral moments he has been a part of since bursting onto the scene at LSU during his 2019 Heisman Trophy season. From his first modeling gig to poorly throwing a baseball, the star quarterback is no stranger to the limelight.
In honor of the new season, here are six of the top viral Burrow moments from over the years.
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Smoking a cigar after leading LSU to a national title
One of Burrow’s most viral moments surprisingly occurred before he even entered the NFL. After leading the LSU Tigers to a national championship win over Clemson during the 2019 season, Burrow and his teammates celebrated their victory with cigars.
Videos and pictures of the celebration sent social media into a frenzy, as football fans edited videos of Burrow and the Tigers celebrating the victory, which helped him earn the nickname Joe Brr.
In 2021, Burrow joined Joel Klatt and Reggie Bush for Fox Sports’Â National Championship Watch Party, and he told the story behind the cigar.
“They were handing them out in the locker room, and K.J. Malone − who is the son of (former NBA great) Karl Malone − they have a cigar company,” Burrow said. “So K.J. had a bunch of cigars passing them out … and mine was about halfway gone when they said it’s time to do media, and I didn’t really want to give it up. So then we went into the little loading area before the press conference, and that’s where that picture was taken on a couch right in the little waiting area to go out on stage.”
Burrow added that he had the photo in his basement.
His arrival as a fashion star amid a run to the Super Bowl
Burrow cemented himself as a fashion force during the 2021-22 playoff run, when he led the Bengals to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1989.
His outfit before the AFC championship game against the Kansas City Chiefs put the world on notice, as he pulled up in a Sherpa coat, designed by his high school friend, which he wore overtop a black turtleneck. Burrow also sported a “JB9” chain and his now signature Cartier shades.
The Bengals, of course, won 23-20.
His modeling debut at Vogue World
The Bengals quarterback took his fashion stardom to another level in 2024 when he wore a backless suit jacket during his first modeling gig at the Vogue World fashion show.
Although Burrow says he’s always been into fashion, his modeling debut came as a total surprise.
Burrow was joined by his LSU teammate, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, at the event, which was part of the Paris Fashion Week Men’s lineup last summer.
The heated exchange with Zac Taylor
Burrow was a hot topic on social media feeds after his heated exchange with Bengals coach Zac Taylor during a December 2024 win over the Tennessee Titans.
Fans then received more context when Netflix’s “Quarterback” docuseries dropped in July.
A scene in the series showed the tense conversation, with Taylor approaching Burrow on the sidelines during the closing moments of the game. After a false start penalty, Taylor said “Hey, way to finish the day. That’s a great drive to finish (the game).”
“That’s an embarrassing performance by us,” Burrow said. “F—ing embarrassing.”
“Listen, we’ll address it,” Taylor said. “We’ll address it. But at the same time, let’s enjoy some of these wins.”
“F— that. F— that,” Burrow said. “We sucked today. That was embarrassing. We jumped offsides f—ing eight times.”
Burrow and Taylor have both since addressed the dialogue, with Taylor describing it as “an emotional moment” that “may be viewed as conflict. It’s really just passion for the game.”
Burrow revealed he bought a Batmobile on ‘Hard Knocks’
During the first episode of “Hard Knocks: In Season with the AFC North,” Burrow revealed to teammate and receiver Tee Higgins that he bought a Batmobile.
“Have I told you I bought a Batmobile?” Burrow asked Higgins.
“Did you get it yet, though?” Higgins replied.
“I don’t get it for like a year, but I bought it,” Burrow added.
However, on the sixth episode of “Quarterback,” the Bengals QB said he didn’t complete the purchase of the tumbler Batmobile from Christopher Nolan’s “Dark Knight” trilogy because his home was burglarized that month.
“Is it true that that was the impetus to cancel the Batmobile (purchase)?” a producer asks Burrow during the episode.
“Yeah. Yeah that was,” Burrow replies. “I didn’t end up getting the Batmobile because, you know, I just had other things I wanted to deal with at that point.”
The baseball pitch seen around the world
Lastly, Burrow accidentally went viral when a video was shared June 22 of him repeatedly missing a target with a baseball at Fanatics Fest NYC 2025. The unfortunate pitches were shared on X via the MLB’s official account, drawing over 840,000 views and nearly 3,000 likes.
Former NFL star Taylor Lewan, co-host of the “Bussin’ with the Boys” podcast with Will Compton, shared the clip via X, with the caption, “Thank you Joe Burrow, thank you.” Lewan had recently had a ceremonial first pitch at a St. Louis Cardinals game at Busch Stadium that also went viral because it was so far off target.
In the quarterback’s defense, Burrow starred in football and basketball at Athens High School, but stopped playing baseball when he was younger. In 2022, Burrow threw the first pitch to Bengals coach Zac Taylor during Cincinnati Reds’ Opening Day.
The Enquirer’s Grace Tucker, Haadiza Ogwude and Dave Clark contributed to this report.