Super Bowl LIV featured a killer halftime show, last-minute drama, a bizarre presidential tweet and, to cap the evening off, Wilford Brimley suddenly getting a lot of attention on Twitter.
The actor, famous for key roles in films such as “Cocoon,” “The Natural” and “The Thing,” wasn’t even at the game on Sunday. However, some people thought that he was not only there, but leading the Kansas City Chiefs to victory over the San Francisco 49ers due to his uncanny resemblance to Chiefs head coach Andy Reid:
To some in the younger set, Brimley is the guy in the “diabeetus” meme ― which is taken from his longtime ads for Liberty Medical, a company that delivers diabetes supplies, and his distinct pronunciation of the word:
Barstool Sports’ Ellie Schnitt was among more than a few on Twitter with a variation on this crack:
An unverified account that purportedly belongs to Brimley, and has posted tweets either by him or on his behalf, wrote back:
Brimley’s reply received more than 170,000 “likes” just hours after it was posted. He’s also joked about his resemblance to Reid, including this message which was posted Twitter at the start of the game:
Brimley was diagnosed with diabetes in 1979. As part of the ad campaign, he spoke openly about his struggles with the disease and offered advice to others, delivered in his folksy manner.
“In closing, I would like to simply say to you: Do the best you can with what you’ve got and be thankful that you’re in no worse shape than you are,” he said in one clip for the company.
Brimley was honored by the American Diabetes Association in 2008 for his work in bringing attention to the disease.
He also did ads for Quaker Oats for many years: