Athletes Who Slid Into Others' DMs

Over half the world's population uses some form of social media, according to statistics cited by the University of Maine. Given that, it should come as no surprise that many use it as their primary source of communication with certain people, particularly those they don't know. The practice is so popular, even celebrities have joined in on the fun, many as a way to hook up.

One group of celebrities that seems to be using social media more than others to hook up? Athletes. And per an article in ESPN Magazine, they're aware of it, too. As hockey player Paul Bissonnette said, "​​Twitter and Instagram are basically dating apps now. Every athlete uses them to hook up, and if they say they haven't, they're lying."

There are lots of risks associated with using social media to communicate with someone you don't know, but for famous athletes, worldwide exposure is chief among them. These aren't the only athletes who've slid into someone's DMs, but they are the ones who were caught.

Attention all athletes: don't direct message adult film star Mia Khalifa and expect to get away with it. The actor has proven she has a take-no-prisoners attitude when it comes to receiving flirty messages from strangers, and she has no problem making any private exchanges public. "Warning: Trespassers in my DM's will be shot and hung out to dry in public," she tweeted.

Included in Khalifa's bold tweet was a screenshot of correspondence between her and former Bills wide receiver Duke Williams. The conversation was mostly one-sided, with Williams inviting her to Las Vegas, asking if she was in Miami, and urging her to come to the Florida party city. After leaving a series of messages unanswered, Khalifa responded, "I am in Miami," adding, "With my boyfriend."

Since the exchange, Williams has switched from the National Football League in the United States to the Canadian Football League, where he plays Saskatchewan Roughriders. Khalifa is still in the adult content industry, and she has large followings on social media, particularly TikTok and Instagram. No word on whether the two ever met in Miami, but we're guessing that's a negative.

Most people who use DMs to initiate a hookup aren't publicly blasted for doing so, but when it comes to star athletes, the rules are a little different. Back in the mid-2010s, former NBA player J.R. Smith learned the hard way the dangers of using this method as a public figure. Prior to a game, Smith was corresponding with a fan via Twitter, and he famously asked, "You trying to get the pipe?" The woman on the receiving end screenshotted the exchange, and it went viral, spawning memes and backlash against the athlete.

Although embarrassing, the incident was a learning experience for Smith. As he told ESPN Magazine, "I was very immature and stupid, but I learned from it too: Watch what you say on social media," he warned.

Shortly after the incident, Smith married the mother of some of his children, Jewel Harris. Unfortunately, controversy followed, and a few years into their marriage, Harris accused Smith of infidelity; he even took to Instagram, as told by Us Weekly, to address the scandal and share that he and his wife were separated at the time. As of 2022, the two are still married, but they seem to keep the details of their relationship private.

All publicity is good publicity, right? That's what college football player Jordan Morant seems to think. "Two Ls equals a W," he captioned a video he posted to TikTok recounting the buzz he received following another TikTok he posted wherein he tried to garner attention from Louisiana State University gymnast Olivia Dunne prior to a football game between the Tigers and Morant's own Mississippi State Bulldogs.

The first video Morant posted to TikTok featured him seemingly searching for Dunne while in Louisiana, the words in the video reading, "When we play LSU tomorrow and Livy Dunne is out there somewhere," along with eyeball emojis. The video was popular enough to circulate to Dunne, who commented, "Good luck but [go Tigers]," to which Morant replied, "Two Ls in one night," referencing both Dunne turning him down and the Bulldogs' loss to Louisiana. Though it wasn't an exchange via DMs, it was entertaining nonetheless.

But as Morant alluded to in his follow-up video, which featured screenshots of several articles written about his shot at love, more coverage of his post to TikTok leads to more views. Thanks to the NCAA's NIL policy, collegiate athletes are no longer prohibited from using their name, image, and likeness to earn money, meaning any revenue Morant generates from views on his videos is his to keep.

Sliding into someone's DMs doesn't have to be reserved for flirting. It can also be a tactic used to psych out an opponent prior to a big game. Just ask Jalen Ramsey. The Jacksonville Jaguars player used the strategy himself while he was playing collegiate football for Florida State. But he wasn't DMing his opponents themselves — he was messaging their girlfriends.

Ramsey took to the "Bussin' With The Boys" podcast to detail the strategy. Known for talking trash, Ramsey used a more discreet method in his younger days. "Say I was playing a big receiver at whatever school, I would look up his Instagram and see his girlfriend, whatever, I'd probably go slide in the DMs," he said. "Either he know about it or he don't. Either way, I'm bringing it up in the game," he added, noting it made his victims mad.

Ramsey didn't carry the practice into his professional career, though. "When I got to the [NFL] I stopped that because now people got wives," he said. Instead, he reserves it for the field, unleashing his signature trash talk on nearly everyone in the league, including greats like Tom Brady and people he has, well, less respect for, like Josh Allen (via GQ).

When you ascend to the heights of stardom as some athletes have, sliding into someone's DMs seems like an unnecessary way to get someone's attention romantically. But stars continue to prove they're just like us, and even those as famous as Shaquille O'Neal have used the social media feature to link with others. While visiting E! Network's "Daily Pop," O'Neal confronted guest host Rocsi Diaz about their flirty relationship in the DMs.

"I could never be sad and pouty with you sitting there," O'Neal said to Diaz as she and her co-host were asking him to show his various facial expressions. "She's always in my DM," O'Neal added, joking that her messages read, "Even though I'm Spanish you know I like that chocolate." "Let's tell the truth of what the DMs say," Diaz said. "I told you the heads up, 'Hey, I'm gonna be interviewing you, my friend, today on 'Daily Pop.' Heads up, show up, make me look good,'" she clarified. Shaq never shared whether he replied, but we now have proof he's checking his DMs.

O'Neal's professional basketball career ended in 2011 shortly after his marriage to his ex-wife Shaunie O'Neal. Per People, Shaquille and Shaunie began dating in the 1990s, married in 2002, and split multiple times, once and for all in 2009, their divorce settling in 2010. Over the course of their relationship, the two had six children, and today they maintain a healthy co-parenting relationship.

Part of one of the greatest NBA teams to ever play, Scottie Pippen is a basketball legend. In 1997, he married Larsa Pippen, and after a decades-long relationship and four kids together, the two split in 2021. Both seemed eager to move on, and they each began dating soon after parting ways. Though both made their respective subsequent relationships public, Scottie's garnered a little more negative attention than Larsa's.

Per Hollywood Unlocked's Instagram page, Instagram model Adrianna Brown received a DM from the former Bulls star. Brown posted a screenshot of a comment Scottie left on one of her photos wondering why he made the remark. "Like sir, I didn't respond to your dm on purpose," she noted. Scottie didn't respond, but he has since reportedly moved on to date other people.

It doesn't seem like Scottie will be sliding into Larsa's DMs any time soon. Per Page Six, Larsa, who stars in "The Real Housewives of Miami," aired some of her grievances with her ex-husband while on camera. "I was traumatized. If he doesn't get his way, he punishes me. He's like The Punisher," she told a co-star. As of late 2022, Larsa has been linked to Scottie's former teammate Michael Jordan's son, Marcus Jordan.

Most DMs are harmless, but there are times when those involved cross a line. In 2013, when Tyrann Mathieu messaged an underage girl via social media, some fans thought he was crossing a line. While living in Arizona and playing football for the Cardinals, Mathieu reached out to a local girl on Twitter.

The exchange started innocently with Mathieu asking, "Hey what's up," and the girl, named Alexis, replying, "Hey, nothing much, thanks for the follow." After discussing the Arizona heat, Mathieu asked, "what's your name [and] age?", to which Alexis replied, "Im [sic] Alexis and I'm 17." "When you make 18," Mathieu replied. The rest of their conversation was not revealed. Although many found his behavior inappropriate, others applauded Mathieu for asking her age and seemingly being careful not to pursue a relationship while she was underage.

Years after the DM incident, Mathieu is still playing in the NFL, and his most active social media account is his Instagram page. The New Orleans Saint has a daughter, and when he's not playing football, he's busy with his non-profit organization, the Tyrann Mathieu Foundation, which he created "to impact the lives of financially disadvantaged children and youth ... in his hometown of New Orleans."

If a famous person DMs someone who isn't famous, there's a high chance the conversation will live in perpetuity in the non-famous person's camera roll. There's also a chance that screenshot will make its way onto the internet, where it'll also live in perpetuity. Even if there isn't a screenshot of evidence, the exchange can still make its way onto social media, which is exactly what happened to LeGarrette Blount.

While playing for the Eagles, the former NFL running back allegedly slid into another man's girlfriend's DMs. The boyfriend, Rick Phillips, didn't show proof, but he did fire off a series of tweets detailing the online interaction. "This man LeGarrette Blount , just dm'd my girl lmao," Phillips initially said. "Update , he's tryna fly her out to Philadelphia," he replied to his first tweet. Even Phillip's girlfriend's brother joined in, quoting Phillip's first tweet with his own added commentary. "This man Legarrette Blount been In my sisters Dms," he said.

Blount never responded to the allegations, and screenshots were never shared. Since then, Blount has retired from the NFL, and in 2022, he made headlines for taking part in a fight after a youth football game. "I take full responsibility for my part in it and for putting ... myself in this situation. I apologize to all of my players and parents and also to the players and parents on the other team," he said in a series of tweets.

Duke Williams isn't the only athlete who's tried to get Mia Khalifa's attention. The adult film star has proven she's unafraid to blast any man who slides into her DMs, and Cubs player Willson Contreras fell victim to her tactic as well. Similarly to Williams, Contreras attempted to get Khalifa's attention with several messages, most of which went unanswered. "Hi how are you?" Contreras began, adding "I'm sure you get this a lot but I'm [a] big fan of you," and ending with, "It will be great if you just say hi." Khalifa simply ended the conversation with "Bye," only to be messaged again the next day.

Per her usual style, Khalifa tweeted evidence of the conversation, this time tagging Willson's employer. "Cubbies, your man's is wandering around left field. Can you come get him?" she said. Per Deadspin, Willson's agent claimed his Twitter account had been hacked, and Willson himself was not responsible for the messages sent to Khalifa.

Willson doesn't need to slide into anyone's DMs anymore. In 2018, not long after the alleged hacking of his Twitter account, the baseball player got married, per Bleacher Report. The wedding was a secret, and his teammates and manager didn't learn of the nuptials until after they had happened.

A talented football player, Cam Newton has weathered his fair share of controversy. Back in 2016, the former Carolina Panther was reportedly caught DMing a married woman. At the time, Newton was dating his ex-girlfriend Kia Proctor, with whom he shares four children. "I can teach you a thing or to [sic] but still wondering where is your outdated guy?" one of Newton's alleged messages read, per Larry Brown Sports. Some believed Newton may have been hacked, but others suspected the messages were legitimately sent, as they were all written in the same font he uses in his other Instagram posts and his bio.

A few years later, Newton and Proctor split after Newton had an affair with an Instagram model La Reina Shaw. Per the New York Post, Newton spoke about his infidelity on "The Pivot" podcast. "I made a mistake. I hurt her, and I jeopardized our family at that time, and I had a child outside of our relationship," he said. Newton went on to note that when his son was born, he "then stopped caring, because I only could be the best person that I could be ... I got so many kids now that if I'm not Superman to them, I'll be damned if I allow the world to call me Superman."

It seems like most athletes use Twitter and Instagram as their primary platforms for DMing strangers, but some — those who maybe hope for less of a chance of one of their messages going viral — have transitioned to a different app: Snapchat. The app that was popularized due to the ephemeral nature of its correspondence is a potentially safer place for people who want no record kept of their messages. Whether or not that was Zion Williamson's intention, it didn't work, and his message to fitness model Morgan Davis was still exposed.

In a video posted to Instagram, Davis toggled from her Snapchat home screen to a message from Williamson that read, "Do you still want to link?". "Why do Zion like that sis?" the caption on the video read. Plenty of commenters scolded Davis for showing and ignoring Williamson's message, to which she replied, "Omg I didn't expose him. I couldn't care less about his message. My brother tryna get clout and made this mess" (per TotalProSports).

Devin Booker's dating life was a rollercoaster in 2022. The Phoenix Suns player was in an on-again-off-again relationship with model Kendall Jenner, and per People, the couple split twice in one year. Earlier that same year, Booker was accused of DMing an OnlyFans model. Per Yard Barker, model Ava Louise posted a screenshot of a message from Booker which simply included a hashtag, seemingly indicating he was asking for her phone number.

At the time of the post, Booker was in a relationship with Jenner. Fans were skeptical of the screenshot, many noting Louise had omitted the date from the screenshot, indicating it could have been sent prior to the start of his relationship with Jenner. Booker never addressed the rumors, and the story dissolved.

As for his bygone relationship with Jenner, a source told People, "Both have incredibly busy schedules right now with their careers and they've decided to make that a priority." Per another source, "They have a lot of love and respect for each other and wish only the best."