Deshaun Watson was the biggest star of Clemson’s national title win against Alabama on Monday. The next biggest star might not have been on either team.
A conspiracy theory about the jacked Bama-Clemson ref caught up this random family
This South Carolina student and her dad have nothing to do with the National Championship’s referee, but that didn’t stop Facebook.
Big 12 referee Mike DeFee led the officiating crew that called the game. DeFee is in terrific physical condition, and within the first few minutes of the game, Twitter was aglow over BEEF REF, the ref who might as well have suited up as a linebacker.
Clemson won. A day elapsed. On Wednesday, a sophomore at the University of South Carolina woke up to some texts from her friends. They had screenshots of a Facebook post that had been shared 3,200 times overnight.
The South Carolina student’s name is Kelsy DeFee. Her father’s name is Mike DeFee, same as Beef Ref. Some intrepid Alabama fan had decided to connect those dots.
On the left, that’s Kelsy DeFee and the Mike DeFee who is her father. On the right, that’s Beef Ref Mike DeFee, who is decidedly not Kelsy’s father and not the man wearing Clemson orange and white. Let’s have a better look:
Kelsy DeFee, ESPN
Not the same.
Anyway, the litigious Bama fan had decided these two not-at-all similar-looking men were the same person, and that the referee whose crew didn’t call offensive pass interference on Clemson’s winning TD was really a Clemson fan. The conspiracy theory had found legs on Facebook, ground zero for exactly this type of theory.
One wrote:
ATTENTION EVERYONE ESPECIALLY BAMA FANS,,, go search MIKE DEFEE,, he was the referee on steroids last nite, , he is a CLEMSON AND HIS DAUGHTER GOES TO CLEMSON, , I looked at it ,, this is a crock
To Kelsy, one wrote: “It was fucking lovely to watch your dad make bad calls. Tell him to get his day job. Crimson blood till I die. Roll Tide. Seriously doubt Clemson will ever be in the playoffs again.”
One more time, for emphasis:
Kelsy responded in a post Wednesday morning, which has since been shared almost 200 times and made its way around South Carolinian Facebook networks:
OMG I didnt know my dad was the referee at the Alabama-Clemson game! I woke up to lots of people sending me a picture of this so I searched it and several people are saying that the referee, Mike DeFee (clearly not my dad) made bad calls because his daughter goes to Clemson. A fake facebook has been made for my dad with only our Clemson pictures. I even received a nasty comment that it was all my fault Alabama lost. JUST TO CLEAR THE AIR, I go to USC and my dad is not the referee Mike DeFee. 😂😂😂😂 but go tigers
Kelsy’s a business marketing and dance student at USC, Clemson’s bitter in-state rival. Her dad, who is not Beef Ref, is indeed a Clemson fan. But the family has a unique sports fandom backstory, especially for the Palmetto State. There’s a reason Kelsy and her dad are wearing garnet and black in the photo above.
“We all used to be Gamecock fans!” Kelsy wrote to SB Nation in a Facebook message. “My mom and dad got a divorce and went their separate ways, started dating new people who happened to be Clemson fans. My mom and dad had no problem converting over to Clemson, but I was a little stubborn about becoming a Tiger. I refused, until my dad took me to my first Clemson game in third grade ... ever since that day I have been a big fan! But, I also really love USC. It is a wonderful school and I also cheer on the Gamecocks! I really like both because they both do a wonderful job of representing my state.”
The post that set this drama off also went out to an Alabama fan page, DeFee said. That probably helped it get traction. It’s since been deleted, though traces of it remain if you search around the network. DeFee thinks the initial poster blocked her.
A few others posted mean things publicly, including one who included a picture of Kelsy and her brother wearing Clemson hats, she said. Others have been nicer. Two Bama fans apologized via Facebook DM, with one helping Kelsy track down the uproar elsewhere on Facebook.
“When I shared my side of the story I got a lot of positive feedback, but also some Bama fans still being sort of rude under my post,” she said.
Kelsy said she’s gotten more than 100 friend requests since this episode started, but she hasn’t accepted any. The DeFees have taken it in stride.
“My dad has literally laughed so hard about all of this,” she wrote. “Honestly, so have I! I have just been the one dealing with most of it because I am the one who addressed it on social media. I was a little concerned about being bombarded with a lot of messages and comments at first, but now I cannot stop looking at what everyone is saying!”
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