Colorado has lost five straight games, but apparently, football isn’t Deion Sanders’ only headache. The Buffaloes coach is now facing allegations that he offered critics $50,000 to stop mentioning his name. There’s just one problem: a resurfaced video tells a different story.
Watch What’s Trending Now!
The clip, shared by TheePregameNetwork on Instagram, comes from a May appearance featuring Sanders and his longtime associate, Christopher Neely, better known as Uncle Neely. Sanders appeared to be mocking commentators who profit from discussing him.
“How much you make off selling me out?” Sanders asked. “I give you that. Don’t mention my name. See how well your show do. I give you that. What you get? You get 25, 50? What you get? 50? I give you that. Don’t mention my name, my likeness, my image, my kids, nobody. Don’t mention none of that for a year. Let’s see how that works.”
Sanders smiled at the end of the exchange. But months later, Neely described the supposed arrangement as though it had been a genuine offer.
In a clip circulated on October 25, Neely argued that some commentators depend on Sanders for their income.
“For the most part, the people that attack him wouldn’t be making the money they were making if he wasn’t here to attack,” he said.
Neely then claimed Sanders had challenged critics to avoid mentioning him for a year in exchange for $50,000, adding that nobody had accepted the deal.
“And you love talking about this man so much, and you make so much talking of this man that you turned the deal down,” he added.
That account raised questions about whether Sanders had attempted to buy his critics’ silence. During his October 27 press conference, the Colorado coach disputed the allegation.
“Offered money?” Sanders asked.
“Oh no, no, no,” he clarified. “I think you misinterpreted that. I said, like some of y’all in here sitting right now, I would love to give you money and not mention my name. And I want to see how far that goes. That was a joke. That’s what we were saying. Some people live on your name.”
Sanders also addressed the reports on X, clarifying his relationship with Neely.
“This is a lie but God bless u all,” he posted. “Y’all know me and have known me for years. When has it appeared that I’ve EVER cared what a man or woman has said about me? My son does my Videos and Neely is a friend.”
During an October 27 livestream on Thee Pregame Network, Neely replayed the May footage and acknowledged how Sanders’ remarks were intended.
“Now you see that smile at the end,” Neely said. “If you watched the buildup at the beginning, this was clearly a tongue-in-cheek joking example to prove a point.”
No verified evidence establishes that Sanders made a formal $50,000 offer or paid anyone. Neely, however, maintained that defending the coach against criticism remained important to him.
“The truth always needs defending,” he said. “Just because you see a dog walking around with eight arrows in him don’t mean them arrows ain’t hurting… So when people run out there talking negative and unjustified about this courageous Black man, and y’all want to sit up and think it’s funny, I don’t hang with people like that.”
Sanders joked about critics making money from his name. Ironically, that same joke gave them another controversy to discuss.