Caleb Williams laughs off viral catfish situation with fan: ‘It was a classic prank’
Caleb Williams is able to laugh about it all now.
Last week, the Bears young quarterback was the victim of a catfishing prank by a group of fans who texted Williams pretending to be Lions offensive coordinator Ben Johnson.
Johnson is among those being interviewed for the Bears vacant head coach position and the group of fans texted Williams pretending it was Johnson reaching out after taking the job.
Here’s the interaction:
Williams was on the latest episode of the St. Brown Podcast with brothers and NFL receivers Amon-Ra and Equanimeous St. Brown and the trio discussed the catfishing incident.
Williams and Amon-Ra (who plays for the Lions) each shared their perspective:
“I reached out to Amon-Ra and I asked Amon-Ra for Ben’s number,” Williams started. “I wasn’t going to save his number ’cause he’s not my coach. I wasn’t gonna do all that. I was asking because I wanted to make sure it wasn’t because obviously so many fake numbers nowadays. I was asking so I could see if it matches his number. Amon-Ra does Amon-Ra things and doesn’t text back.”
Amon-Ra jumped in and explained how he thought Williams was playing a joke.
“At this time I was eating dinner, so I didn’t see my phone,” Amon-Ra said. “20 minutes later, I see the text, but it’s too late. He goes, ‘it’s all good, I called and it wasn’t him.'”
An hour later, the Williams video with fans was all over social media.
“The text was so, like, official,” Williams said. “I’ve gotten that text from college coaches and other coaches before getting drafted and all of that in different ways. So it looked mad professional. So I was like, alright, I’m gonna reach out.”
Amon-Ra interjected again: “Caleb, you actually thought Ben – in the middle of the season – would reach out?”
“My reason was ’cause they’re doing the interview thing,” Williams said. “I was on the game, so I wasn’t focused and they were doing the interview the next day, so I thought he already had the interview.
“I ain’t gonna lie, it was a classic prank. It was a Grade-A, S Tier prank. I gotta give ’em props. I wasn’t locked in in the moment.”
[Bears completed interview with Ben Johnson for head coach job]
Williams said he has no idea how the fans got his cell phone, as he’s had the same number for 15 years. But he has a new number now, after the incident.
The St. Brown brothers asked Williams what his reaction was when he saw fans – and not Ben Johnson – on the other end of the FaceTime call.
“I was trying not to flip out ’cause I knew they were probably recording,” Williams said. “I was trying to keep my cool but when I got off the phone, I was fuming.”