As the Dallas Cowboys aim to report to training camp as scheduled late in July, Running Back Ezekiel Elliott has made sure to provide Cowboys Nation with entertainment through his gaming channel on Twitch, the streaming platform. Zeke's playthroughs of the famous Call of Duty War Zone have been fun, but one of his latest streams caused some controversy.
After he thought he had ended his stream, Elliott said he was “low-key faded.” This immediately caused the clip to go viral on social media as plenty of fans and reporters assumed Zeke was referring to being “high.”
The controversy among fans as to what the term “faded” actually meant increased drastically when a major sports media site ran with a story on the clip.
Shortly after the video was everywhere on Cowboys Twitter, Sports Illustrated published a story implying Zeke was in fact high. Elliott was having none of it though, as he quickly called out SI with a tweet that read: “Actually I was referring to the few drinks I had which I said during the live stream.” Elliott also suggested the article was defamation and threatened SI by tweeting they'd hear from his lawyers.
Since then, Sports Illustrated has deleted the article and Elliott has also taken down the tweet. Zeke, however, added that he expected that from a gossip site but not from Sports Illustrated.
For different reasons, Ezekiel Elliott's name has been in plenty of headlines lately. The star running back remains the only Cowboys player whose name was released after “several” team members reportedly tested positive for COVID-19. In an interview with Cameron Magruder, Elliott mentioned he was doing fine and that even when he had symptoms they weren't that bad.
Also, Elliott has been accused of a dog attack and has since responded the victim was trespassing, a matter that will likely drag out for a bit more time.
The latest headline though, only happened because some people seem unable to agree on what “faded” means. Hopefully, Zeke isn't that annoyed with the incident that he decides to stop streaming his videogame sessions because he's been fun to watch in an offseason in which players have yet to report to team facilities. He's been responsive to the chat and constantly interacts with his followers.
My personal favorite interaction? Zeke responding to a comment that asked why did Buffalo Bills QB Josh Allen had more rushing touchdowns than him in the last two years… Elliott didn't hesitate. “Because Josh Allen is a beast. That's why!”
