News Uber Eats/DoorDash guy walks on floor at basketball game, internet debates if it’s a publicity stunt

A Loyola Chicago-Duquesne college basketball game on Wednesday night was interrupted by Uber Eats or DoorDash delivery men wandering the field, in what angry school officials insisted was a publicity stunt.

San Francisco-based delivery services Uber Eats and DoorDash may or may not have been involved in a publicity stunt during Wednesday night’s nationally broadcast NCAA men’s basketball game. But either way, both are sure to get publicity as the internet debates whether or not this whole affair was a coordinated stunt. (Spoiler: yes.)

The incident occurred during the Loyola Chicago-Duquesne game on Wednesday night. (Fans will recognize Loyola Chicago for their famous nun superfan Sister Jean, and yes, San Francisco native Sister Jean is 103 years old and alive!) The referee calls an official timeout, and a confused announcer says, “Someone come on the floor?” Moments later, the same announcer says, “Looking for Uber Eats or something? He’s holding some McDonald’s . Actually, I’m not kidding.”

A replay of the aforementioned video confirmed that the delivery man was indeed wandering around the field area with a bag of McDonald’s. “I think that’s an Uber Eats sticker, I’m trying to make sure,” the same announcer said. “Uber Eats, yes.”

Is this a gimmick? Austin Hanson, assistant athletic director of broadcast operations at Loyola, said yes, and wasn’t too happy about the incident. It might also be important for Hansen to identify this as a DoorDash driver, whose sideline video shows the “delivery guy” saying “DoorDash? DoorDash?

“This kid is clearly doing a Youtube/TikTok prank,” Hansen continued in his post. “You could see him wearing a microphone and a lot of students were filming him with their phones.”

Of course, the students are filming, which may or may not be the mic on the guy’s shirt. But yeah, it’s weird that this guy was able to wander onto the field and there didn’t seem to be a safety response.

The game, which was played at Duquesne University’s UPMC Cooper Arena in Pittsburgh, has just been confirmed by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette as a stunt. The newspaper noted that “the prankster then walked over to the student section and again asked if anyone had ordered a DoorDash,” and that “the man didn’t appear to have been kicked out of the arena, but was walking nonchalantly around the stands. He was on the video screen with another person.”

“This was a prank that was planned in advance for exposure on the Internet,” the school said in a statement. “We determined that the individual was wearing a microphone and someone filmed him walking towards the field during the game. .”

“While the incident seemed amusing at the time and caused no harm, we are aware that such an incident could put players and officials at risk,” the statement continued.

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picture: @ Walker MBB via twitter