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Mr. October didn’t do it.
Queen Elizabeth II died on Thursday morning at 96 years old after seven decades of ruling England. Social media was consumed by her passing, with people both praising and criticizing her role in England’s global affairs since her coronation in June of 1953. The real world was no different.
Almost every part of culture has some sort of connection to Queen Elizabeth, and that of course includes sports. The English Premier League made a statement on her passing, and the Bills vs. Rams planned a moment of silence for her as they open the 2022 NFL season. As the reactions to Elizabeth’s death poured in, former New York Yankees star Reggie Jackson — aka Mr. October — might have stole the show.
Jackson tweeted this after Elizabeth’s passing.
Now we all know I was innocent ! Amen! RIP Queen E !
This is of course a reference to the 1988 comedy “The Naked Gun.” Jackson has a role in the movie as a baseball player hypnotized to kill the Queen. The movie was released one year after Jackson retired, and he donned his California Angels uniform one more time for the part.
The clip of Jackson in the movie was all over social media after Elizabeth’s passing.
R.I.P. The Queen. May we never forget the time she visited the U.S.A., was almost murdered at a ballgame by Reggie Jackson, but was saved by an American hero. pic.twitter.com/nYkbkdeUOx
Spoiler alert on this part in case you haven’t gotten around to watching “The Naked Gun” over the last 34 years. Wikipedia sums up the ending well:
Frank tries to incapacitate Jackson with one of his cufflink darts, but misses and hits a large woman on the upper deck. The woman falls over the railing and lands on Jackson, incapacitating him and saving the Queen’s life.
Our Angels team community Halos Heaven wrote a hilarious fictitious recap of the fake game in 2020 with the headline “Angels-Mariners controversy: Game ends in brawl, Reggie Jackson gets crushed after assassination attempt on Queen.”
Jackson during the seventh-inning stretch brawl uprooted second base to reveal a hidden gun, then marched over to the field boxes and pointed it directly at Queen Elizabeth II. Before Jackson could fire the gun, a woman fell from the reserve level directly onto him, knocking the weapon away.
“I honestly have no idea how I got in that situation. I don’t know anything about the gun,” a stunned Jackson said after the game. “All I remember is seeing the brawl from right field, then the next thing I remembered was lying in the dugout in tremendous pain.”
Jackson, on crutches afterwards, was questioned by police but not arrested. Even if he is able to avoid legal troubles, Jackson is unlikely to play the rest of the season. An MRI is scheduled for today, but team officials fear he has a torn right ACL and possibly a dislocated hip.
RIP to the Queen. Mr. October didn’t do it.
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