Always check to make sure you’re muted.
One reporter forgot that golden rule of video conferencing during a virtual media availability with Justin Verlander on Monday, Jan. 13. The reporter noticed that the 41-year-old right-hander appeared to be logged into the Zoom account of his wife, model Kate Upton, and loudly pointed that out to everyone on the call.
The Giants’ president of baseball operations Buster Posey was on the call too, and just as Posey, 37, was answering a question, the voice of the journalist interrupted the call.
“Look at Justin’s name,” the reporter could be heard saying, unaware that he was interrupting Posey in front of the group of other journalists.
The reporter didn’t speak again once he realized the mistake and the Giants’ vice president of media relations Matt Chisholm continued the meeting, reminding the group to mute themselves when they weren’t asking Posey and Verlander a question.
Verlander found the reporter’s hot mic moment amusing and quipped, “I’ll change it, alright? I’ll change it.”
The newly-signed Giants star continued poking fun at the mixup when he changed the name on the Zoom account to “JUSTIN VERLANDER (not Kate).”
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Upton and Verlander first met in 2012 during a commercial shoot. After a few years of dating, Verlander proposed to Upton in 2016 and the couple tied the knot on Nov. 4, 2017 — just days after the baseball pro won the World Series.
The couple share a daughter, Genevieve, who was born in 2018.
The unknowing reporter, Taylor Wirth of NBC Sports, was able to quickly laugh off the all-too-relatable blunder after the clip made the rounds on social media.
Wirth reposted the clip on X and added a clever meme in response to his viral moment.
The innocent mistake even inspired others to share their unmuted mixups on Zoom with Wirth. “Happens to the best of us,” one user wrote to the reporter. “In a previous job I said ‘I love you’ jokingly at the end of a zoom meeting and thought I was muted. 400+ people at my company heard it.”
“Can’t get more wholesome than that,” Wirth replied.
On Jan. 11, the Giants announced that Verlander signed a one-year contract worth $15 million after joining the Houston Astros in 2017.
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