UPDATED 1/15, 5:59 p.m. ET: LSU Athletics has released a statement on the situation involving Odell Beckham Jr and said that they "are working with our student-athletes, the NCAA and the SEC in order to rectify the situation."
Statement from LSU Athletics: pic.twitter.com/tuwDQT0cjs
UPDATED 1/15, 12:50 p.m. ET: Joe Burrow seems to have contradicted LSU's claim that the money Odell Beckham Jr. was handing out to players after their championship win was fake. The LSU quarterback made the opposing claim during a recent appearance on the Pardon My Take podcast.
When asked if it was indeed real money, Burrow said, "Umm… yeah. I’m not a student-athlete anymore, so I can say yeah." When asked how much cash OBJ was handing out, Burrow said he didn't know. You can listen to the exchange, which takes place around the 39-minute mark of the pod, here.
See original story below.
LSU quarterback Joe Burrow appears to have contradicted the school's claim that Odell Beckham Jr. was handing out fake money to Tigers players after Monday's College Football Playoff Championship Game.
Appearing on the Pardon My Take podcast (h/t Brian Fonseca of NJ.com), Burrow said the Cleveland Browns wide receiver was handing out real money on the field.
After video footage of Beckham passing out cash was captured on social media, an LSU athletic official told Brooks Kubena of The Advocate that the money wasn't real.
Kubena added the school is still investigating the situation because there were novelty bills on the field during the team's celebration, but it was unclear if Beckham was using those.
Odell Beckham, Jr. was one of the several NFL athletes on the sidelines Monday night to watch LSU take on Clemson in the National Championship game. As expected, OBJ was beside himself when his alma mater won the clash of the Tigers, a win that was followed by some very on-brand antics.
After Joe Burrow and the LSU Tigers handed Trevor Lawrence the first loss of his college career, Beckham flooded the field with the team. Along with dancing with the players, OBJ appeared to break off a piece of his $95 million contract by passing out handfuls of cash to the student-athletes. Well, not so fast.
Beckham is only seen giving money to the LSU wide receivers, particularly Justin Jefferson and Jontre Kirklin. It's unclear what the full scope of his relationship with the receivers is, but it should be pointed out that it's against NCAA rules for players to accept money. For what it's worth, LSU told The Advocate that OBJ was in fact handing out fake money, which exonerate all parties from any wrongdoing. Jefferson was also wearing a pair of Beckham's custom cleats during the game, which OBJ said he would sell for $200,000.
OBJ has been a huge supporter of this year's LSU squad, and gifted them with Beats headphones prior to the game. Despite the fact that OBJ might have broken some rules with his postgame celebration of the money was indeed real, fans were still fired up to see him having fun after a dismal season in Cleveland,
