Emeka Egbuka
Bucs Claim ‘CTE’ Tweet From Fake Account
… After Interacting With It For Months
Published
March 12, 2026
8:18 AM PDT
A bizarre social media controversy is swirling around Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Emeka Egbuka … after a viral post questioning whether CTE is real sparked outrage — and now the team is insisting the account behind it isn’t actually his.
The drama kicked off on Wednesday when a blue-check X account claiming to belong to Egbuka fired off a short but explosive message at 2:27 PM ET: “Is CTE even real?”
The post spread quickly across the football world … with fans blasting the sentiment given CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy — is a brain disease linked to repeated head trauma in football.
But about an hour later, the Buccaneers’ communications department jumped in to try to put out the fire.
“The below account is neither owned nor operated by Emeka Egbuka,” the team wrote. “It is in no way affiliated with Emeka or the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.”
Here’s where things get messy, though.
What a year for @EgbukaEmeka 🙏
Congratulations on your engagement, Emeka & Laney! pic.twitter.com/6TMUWLmsoT
@Buccaneers
Despite the team’s claim, the account has repeatedly been treated like Egbuka’s real profile — including by the Buccaneers themselves. The team has tagged and followed the account multiple times this year, which has some NFL observers questioning what’s actually going on.
The now-suspended profile looks pretty legit on the surface … boasting thousands of followers, including several notable football-related accounts — the National Football League Players Association, as well as NFL Films and multiple NFL media members.
Adding another wrinkle … the account has been mostly dormant for years, with very few original posts and mostly reposts. It had only made three posts in 2026, all since March 9 … raising the possibility that someone recently gained control of the account.
For now, the Buccaneers are sticking to their story that the account isn’t Egbuka’s … but given the team’s own history of interacting with it, plenty of fans and media members aren’t totally convinced.
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Lost in the chaos is the fact that Egbuka is coming off an impressive rookie season in Tampa — playing all 17 games and hauling in 63 catches for 938 yards and six touchdowns for the Bucs.
As for the controversial post … the team insists it didn’t come from their rising star — even if the internet isn’t quite sure what to believe yet.