Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images Ben Roethlisberger of the Pittsburgh Steelers makes a call against the Atlanta Falcons on December 14, 2014.
Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger would be surprised to learn that his name came up on C-SPAN 2 today, which explains why he’s trending on Twitter.
While making an argument during President Trump’s impeachment trial, attorney Bruce Castor—the former district attorney for Montgomery County, Pa.—seemed to conflate Ben Roethlisberger’s name with that of Ga. Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.
“Let’s touch now on the second absurd and conflated allegation in the House Manager’s single article,” he said, before going on to make reference to a phone call President Trump made to Ga. Secretary of State “Ben Raffensperger.”
Except at first pass it sounds as if Castor says, “Ben Roethlisberger.”
Watch and listen for yourself below, courtesy of Jacob Rubashkin, reporter and analyst for Inside Elections, who first tweeted the clip from C-SPAN 2.
“Georgia Secretary of State Ben Roethlisberger”
Twitter Takes the Opportunity to Skewer Castor and Roethlisberger
The tweet has already inspired countless replies from political observers and NFL fans alike, many of which are highly critical of the quality of Trump’s legal defense team. That includes Castor, who misspoke while he was making reference to a recording of Trump asking Raffensperger to overturn the results of the presidential election for the state of Georgia.
Other Twitter users have used Castor’s gaffe to remind observers that in 2010, Roethlisberger was accused of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old college student inside a nightclub bathroom in Milledgeville, Ga.
No charges were brought in the case, with the local district attorney saying, “the overall circumstances do not lead to a viable prosecution. If they did, I would be pursuing it vigorously.”
Prior to that, Roethlisberger was accused of sexual assault by a different woman (at Harrah’s Lake Tahoe Hotel & Casino), which he denied. He did not face criminal charges stemming from the Nevada incident and later settled a civil lawsuit that was filed by his accuser.
Is Ben Roethlisberger Returning for an 18th NFL Season?
Ben Roethlisberger, 38, was Pittsburgh’s first-round draft pick in the 2004 NFL Draft and has played for the team for 17 seasons, winning two Super Bowl titles along the way.
Owing to his age, some Twitter enthusiasts used the Ga. Secretary of State connection to jokingly explain away the recent decline in Roethlisberger’s play, which has his status for the 2021 season somewhat in doubt.
@JacobRubashkin @aclink88 this explains why Ben has sucked the past year. My guy was doing two jobs!
Roethlisberger is still under contract to the Steelers for one more year and is said to want to return for an 18th NFL season, but one Steelers insider recently reported that it “still might not work out.” He was expected to meet with head coach Mike Tomlin and Steelers ownership sometime this week, but that meeting has not occurred.
Roethlisberger has long owned a lake home in Greensboro, Ga., about a half-hour from Milledgeville, where the 2010 sexual assault incident allegedly took place.
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