{"id":309177,"date":"2024-02-02T15:59:04","date_gmt":"2024-02-02T21:59:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=309177"},"modified":"2024-02-03T11:53:29","modified_gmt":"2024-02-03T17:53:29","slug":"carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/","title":{"rendered":"FanDuel to Alter \u2018Kick of Destiny\u2019 Commercials Following Death of Carl Weathers"},"content":{"rendered":"

FanDuel will make changes to the \u201cKick of Destiny\u201d commercials that featured actor Carl Weathers, who passed away earlier today at the age of 76.<\/p>\n

\"Carl
Actor Carl Weathers (driver) and retired NFL star Rob Gronkowski in a FanDuel commercial. Weathers died earlier Friday. (Image: FanDuel)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The largest online sportsbook had been running advertisements featuring Weathers and former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski in the run-up to the Super Bowl on Feb. 11. This year\u2019s spots were framed as a sequel to a 2023 campaign in which Gronkowski missed<\/a> a 25-yard field goal.<\/p>\n

We are deeply saddened to learn of the passing of Carl Weathers,\u201d FanDuel said in a statement provided to Casino.org<\/em>. \u201cThroughout his life, Carl was an iconic talent who had a profound impact on the people he worked with on and off the screen. FanDuel was fortunate to have had an opportunity to work with him during our Super Bowl campaign.\u00a0We are adjusting our campaign accordingly out of respect for the family during their time of grief.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The gaming company, a unit of Dublin-based Flutter Entertainment<\/a> (NYSE: FLUT), said that is the entirety of the information they\u2019ll be sharing at this time.<\/p>\n

FanDuel Framed Weathers in Appropriate Light<\/h2>\n

Born in New Orleans, Weathers is most remembered for his role as Apollo Creed in the first four Rocky <\/em>movies, but his career spanned decades and included appearances in television shows and music videos as well as big roles in movies such as Predator <\/em>and Happy Gilmore<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n

In the FanDuel commercials, Weathers was framed as a coach of sorts to Gronkowski. The gaming company was right to position Weathers in such a light because that was similar to the role he played in Rocky III<\/em> and as Chubbs in Happy Gilmore<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Weathers\u2019 appearances in the \u201cKick of Destiny\u201d commercials was pertinent for another reason. He had direct football ties as he was a linebacker for two years at San Diego State before joining the Oakland Raiders. He helped the team to its first-ever AFC title game appearance in 1970 and was released in September 1971.<\/p>\n

From there, he went to the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) where he appeared in 18 games over three seasons. He also did narration for NFL Films and participated in coverage of the 2017 NFL Draft.<\/p>\n

Fate of \u2018Kick of Destiny\u2019 Commercials TBD<\/h2>\n

As noted above, FanDuel will adjust the \u201cKick of Destiny\u201d ads featuring Weathers. Whether the spots are pulled outright or changed to acknowledge the actor\u2019s passing remains to be seen.<\/p>\n

The sportsbook operator did not mention whether or not the halftime promotion will proceed or how its Super Bowl advertising plans<\/a> are affected by the death of Weathers, if at all.<\/p>\n

In a statement issued on Wednesday, FanDuel said the \u201cKick of Destiny 2\u201d press conference is scheduled for Feb. 7 in Las Vegas<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\u201cRob Gronkowski will be holding a press conference, moderated by Kay Adams, from the FanDuel set that will air on FanDuel TV, FanDuel TV+ and stream live on FanDuel’s YouTube channel<\/a><\/u> on Wednesday, February 7 at 10:30 AM PT,\u201d according to the operator.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FanDuel will make changes to the \u201cKick of Destiny\u201d commercials that featured actor Carl Weathers, who passed away earlier today at the age of 76. The largest online sportsbook had been running advertisements featuring Weathers and former New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end Rob Gronkowski in the run-up to the Super Bowl […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":46,"featured_media":309178,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33810,82961,1074],"tags":[81898,81004,80968],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCarl Weathers FanDuel Spots To Be Altered Following His Death<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"FanDuel to Alter \u2018Kick of Destiny\u2019 Commercials Following Death of Carl Weathers.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Carl Weathers FanDuel Spots To Be Altered Following His Death\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"FanDuel to Alter \u2018Kick of Destiny\u2019 Commercials Following Death of Carl Weathers.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-02-02T21:59:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-02-03T17:53:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/CW.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@etfgodfather\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Todd Shriber\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/\",\"name\":\"Carl Weathers FanDuel Spots To Be Altered Following His Death\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/CW.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-02-02T21:59:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-02-03T17:53:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/f4cecf70a5032bc4e60eb73fc86d4a85\"},\"description\":\"FanDuel to Alter \u2018Kick of Destiny\u2019 Commercials Following Death of Carl Weathers.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/carl-weathers-fanduel-spots-to-be-altered-following-his-death\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/CW.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/CW.jpg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":720,\"caption\":\"The late Carl Weathers (driver) and retired NFL star Rob Gronkowski in a FanDuel commercial. 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