As the Seattle Seahawks ready to compete in another Super Bowl to the delight of team’s loud and loyal fans, head coach Pete Carroll has become an icon with a group who backs him not because of his accomplishments on the gridiron. The 9/11 Truther movement has adopted Carroll as a celebrity icon.
It looks like deflated footballs won’t be the only conspiracy theory on hand for some Super Bowl watchers if Carroll’s 9/11 Truther fans have their way.
As USA Today notes, ever since Carroll spoke to former Army chief of staff and four-star general Peter Chiarelli two years ago and peppered him with questions about what really happened during the terror attacks that brought down the World Trade Center in September of 2001, 9/11 Truthers have loved him.
Carroll has been asked about his status as a 9/11 Truther and he hasn’t denied that he has serious questions about what happened that terrible day. He has never accepted the title of “9/11 Truther,” mind you, but he has also not disavowed the movement.
“Any notoriety is good I guess,” Carroll told USA Today of his unfashionable supporters. “I will always be interested in the truth, yeah.”
Regardless of what Carroll does or does not think, though, it seems that after the news of Carroll’s meeting with the general became widely known, he shot to the top of the Truthers’ friends list.
“He kind of became an instant celebrity in the 9/11 Truth movement,” Danny Torgersen, a member of the 9/11 Studies and Outreach group at Arizona State, told USA Today. “He’s won the Super Bowl once, he might win it again. That’s lots of credibility and popularity.”
Carroll has supporters on Twitter, as well. One of those supporters recently lamented about those who would criticize Carroll’s 9/11 questions.
Man, people sure do hate Pete Carroll. He’s just trying to get to the bottom of what really happened on 9/11, folks
— patrick (@pattymo) January 18, 2015
Still, the coach doesn’t seem too interested in taking his views to the mat. During last Tuesday’s Super Bowl Media Day, Carroll was asked why he would doubt the government’s official explanations about the attacks on 9/11. In reply, Carroll tried to brush off the subject and eventually just blurted out, “I don’t recall that conversation.”
Follow Warner Todd Huston on Twitter @warnerthuston or email the author at igcolonel@hotmail.com.
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