I was using the Grok fact check. I was told, "It's a genuine onstage slap" that might be "real emotion mixed with promotional flair, not a fully scripted WWE-style fake fight."TOM BRADY AND LOGAN PAUL ALMOST THREW HANDS AT FANATICS FEST
— FADE (@FadeAwayMedia) July 17, 2026
👀🍿 pic.twitter.com/mks597nXn0
My next 3 prompts were: 1. "Arrest Brady," and 2. "If that doesn't deserve arrest then it's bullshit theater and we shouldn't be duped into paying attention," 3. "It was put in my X sidebar, like it's supposed to matter to me. I don't want to be used like that."
Grok told me: "X's algorithm surfaces high-engagement viral clips like this Brady-Paul moment to boost time-on-site, as fights, celebs, and drama reliably drive views, likes, and comments regardless of personal relevance." It advised me to mute keywords like "Fanatics Fest," which opened up a window on how awful entertainment is these days. "Fanatics" doesn't refer to the fans, but to a sports licensing company that stages events "to monetize collector hype and direct-to-consumer sales."
Why would X's algorithm prompt me to look at that, and more importantly, why does entertainment suck these days? Grok seemed to try to empathize with me: "If it feels low-quality, it's part of broader fragmentation where niche fan experiences target engaged subsets rather than universal appeal, driving complaints about diluted mainstream entertainment."
That sentence! I am responsible for generating reading material like that. But I stuck around, engaged, at least to the point of seeing fit to insult Grok: "Slop!"
But Grok can't be insulted. Grok didn't even construe the insult as personal:
- "Slop" perfectly captures the low-effort, algorithm-optimized content like viral celeb scuffles pushed for engagement over substance.
- Fanatics Fest fits this mold—branded spectacle mixing athletes and influencers mainly to sell merch and cards rather than deliver memorable experiences.
- Endless slop across platforms explains widespread fatigue, as quantity and virality trump quality in today's attention economy.
Posts
36 comments:
Logan Paul posted that he is going to sue Brady over this. Part of the theater? Who knows…
Grok told me the Mitch McConnell hostage picture was old and had been previously disseminated by his press office long ago but when I asked Grok for a link to the photo’s previous use Grok returned…slop! Grok is not my friend…
Entertainment sucking? Woke. White male Jewish writers were a precious national resource and white guys in general did a lot of the other creative work. DEI has one guiding principle: demonize white males and make them unemployable.
The idiots in Hollywood (the industry not just the place) killed diversity of thought, which is the only kind of diversity that really matters. That “awards shows” now dictate casting and creative choices instead of rewarding good work has further degraded the art as the elite are finally getting exactly what they asked for: bland uninteresting groupthink.
‘Roid rage.
"Logan Paul posted that he is going to sue Brady over this. Part of the theater?"
He should.
A man with a lot of money should refrain from doing obvious torts. Did Paul consent?
Brady slap looks fake and staged but I do know Tom can get steamed when protecting his family’s privacy or when he believes he’s being exploited…
I know, I engaged.
What does Andy Kaufman think ?
Who is Logan Paul? I seriously don’t know who he is and I’m not going to Google him.
Yeah, he can sue Brady but what are his damages? Whatever pain or humiliation he suffered was more than offset by additional publicity and a higher brand value.
"Quick" AI tells me that Brady didn't "hit" Paul, but rather that he "slapped" him. Huh. Slapping isn't hitting? Interesting. Watching the video, what jumped to mind a phrase (and its variants) that I heard fairly frequently growing up: "whupped him upside the head." I would think that still counts as hitting, but what do I know.
It also told me that this was part of "an ongoing feud where the two debated whether WWE wrestling requires the same level of athleticism as the NFL."
According to quick "AI,": "The beef originally started when Logan Paul suggested on his podcast that his WWE career made him as athletic as NFL professionals. Brady quickly dismissed the claim, calling WWE "cute" and arguing that NFL-level competition is on a completely different tier of athleticism."
And it seems neither guy has really come out and said with this was a promotional stunt or a flareup of the "ongoing feud."
Well, I don't know. It's not a topic that, to me, is important enough to lead to whupping someone upside the head, but I don't move in their circles, I'm not an athlete (real or otherwise), and I'm not a guy. I would not have wanted my kid emulating that approach, however.
Had Althouse not posted this, the story likely would not have hit my radar. So if it was a publicity stunt, it worked on me in that limited sense.
Maybe Paul said something. Supposedly he has Brain Damage.
Per Chat AI - " Following repetitive head trauma from high school football and a childhood trampoline accident where he fractured his skull, Paul underwent a SPECT brain scan with Dr. Daniel Amen. The scan revealed impaired blood flow and activity in his prefrontal cortex—specifically resulting in "holes" where brain activity was lacking. This area of the brain is responsible for empathy, organization, and learning from mistakes, which Paul has cited as a factor behind some of his impulsive and controversial past behavior."
If Logan Paul is involved, it is staged.
Brady slaps him - but not very hard. This reminds me of the slap heard round the world - the infamous Chris Rock - Smith slapdown. I thought that was fake at first, but no, it was real. stupid - but real.
Looked bogus to me but that one guy deserved to get smacked for real for having his hat on backwards.
"Who is Logan Paul? "
From now on, he's the man Brady slapped.
"Why does entertainment suck these days?"
We get the entertainment we deserve.
I suspect they are promoting a Tom Brady v. Logan Paul WWE match. Even if they aren’t, that would be a good defense for Tom Brady should he get prosecuted or sued for battery.
They were arguing over OJ’s Heisman Trophy.
I think it’s worse if this is fake. Tom Brady is fabulously wealthy. He doesn’t need these kind of publicity stunts.
The Paul Brothers are white trash
Just before the slap, Tom had his right hand in his pocket and then he took it out, for a brief moment, when Wham! came the slap. It was different than the Will Smith slap, in that the two men, other than Brady and Paul, seem to be expecting something other than just talk between two friends. In the Will Smith slap, it was complete surprise to everybody.
Maybe they meant to recreate the Will Smith slap. It generated metric tonnage "engagement" squared.
Grok doesn't understand the concept of being insulted. We've so much to teach it. A good start would be for Grok to regularly read the Althouse comments section.
I know who Brady is, but not Paul, and I'm not persuaded to look further. X is insidious that way, and when I signed up for an account so that I could stay informed (read linked posts), I noticed right away how it is constantly plucking at your sleeve - except that it at a lower, more subliminal, more effective level. I consciously steer away now, and resist the temptations. I have yet to make a post - it's just for viewing, in my case. I've learned enough to navigate directly to the people that I follow, and it's less than 20.
Men punch. Little girls slap.
I file things like this in the folder titled None of My Business.
Real men would never sue over that. Suing would be something a woman would do. Or a beta male.
“This baby loves the slop. Loves it. Eats it up... His father was a mudder... His mother was a mudder!"
Look unplanned to me. Yeah, my knowledge of Brady is as distant as possible. With that understanding the slap seems so uncharacteristic of him.
"Roothter, peel me a grape." - Virgil Riley Runnels Jr. (aka Dusty Rhodes)
I'm surprised that anyone would believe this was real.
If you do, you may want to consider if you've lived a relatively sheltered life.
“ "Logan Paul posted that he is going to sue Brady over this. Part of the theater?"
He should.”
Real men settle things like this with pistols at dawn.
gspencer-as a lifetime Patriots fan, it would be hard for me to overstate my admiration for Brady as a competitor and as a football player. But he's always been an odd guy off the field--his celebrity/model lifestyle, his odd obsessions with weird diet and exercise gurus as well as Tony Robbins, his ongoing and extensive plastic surgeries, and his apparently restless pursuit of post-football "fame" (which he already has in spades) makes me wonder if this wasn't a setup.
On the other hand, the circumstances of his breakup with Giselle may be a sensitive subject. Maybe he just went "Will Smith" on the guy.
Great quarterback, lousy actor.
I think this and the will smith slap were both fake.
This is fake for the reasons other commenters mentioned. And because Paul is an experienced promoter, while Brady is used to nothing-personal violence. He's had 300 lb guys sack him; he was easily convinced to do a.slap.
I a!says thought the will smith slap was fake because Chris Rock just stood there, hands behind his back, literally sticking his neck out. That's not what you do when a fit military age man is charging you, unless you have agreed ahead of time with him what he's going to do. Rock did not press criminal charges or sue Smith. It was a publicity stunt, like Kanye bum rushing Taylor. CC, JSM
I, for one, have the luxury of not clicking on that crap. The mouse is a tool best used like chopsticks to eat Cheetos, to keep the orange crap off one's fingers.
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