49ers’ Brock Purdy Perfectly Handled Reporter’s Awkward Question About Lee Harvey Oswald

49ers quarterback Brock Purdy sidestepped a weird question about Lee Harvey Oswald.
49ers’ Brock Purdy Perfectly Handled Reporter’s Awkward Question About Lee Harvey Oswald
49ers’ Brock Purdy Perfectly Handled Reporter’s Awkward Question About Lee Harvey Oswald /
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Players never know what they’re going to be subjected to at their media availabilities during Super Bowl week. The droves of reporters who descend upon the host city every year don’t ask the same sort of football-focused questions that players usually get during the rest of the season. But one of the questions San Francisco 49ers quarterback Brock Purdy fielded on Tuesday was extra bizarre—even by Super Bowl media circus standards. 

There’s a viral tweet making the rounds this week that draws a physical comparison between Purdy and JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald. Purdy and Oswald do admittedly look fairly alike, perhaps mostly because they have similar haircuts, but is it a close enough resemblance that we need to rush to get Purdy’s thoughts on the matter? One reporter thought so. 

Purdy fielded a question from a reporter on Tuesday about the comparison and wasn’t sure what to make of it. 

“Have you ever heard that before?” the reporter asked. 

“I haven’t, that’s my first time hearing that,” Purdy replied. 

“What do you think about that comparison,” the reporter followed up. 

Purdy hemmed and hawed for a second before simply saying with a bit of a smile, “Yeah, I don’t know.”

It was a weird question for Purdy to be asked, especially in what’s already an awkward environment with so many reporters crowded around him, but give him credit for politely sidestepping the inquiry. Hopefully it’ll be the strangest question he winds up fielding this week. 


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Dan Gartland
DAN GARTLAND

Dan Gartland is the writer and editor of Sports Illustrated’s flagship daily newsletter, SI:AM, covering everything an educated sports fan needs to know. He joined the SI staff in 2014, having previously been published on Deadspin and Slate. Gartland, a graduate of Fordham University, is a former Sports Jeopardy! champion (Season 1, Episode 5).