WATCH: Browns Accused of Staging Photog’s Fall into Lake Erie During New Helmet Reveal

The Cleveland Browns are being accused of some trickery when it comes to the viral slip and fall on Wednesday at the team’s new helmet reveal, when a videographer fell off the raft containing the new helmet and plunged into Lake Erie.

The Browns constructed a raft that contained a large inflatable helmet in the style of the new dark-brown alternate helmets the team will wear this year. The Browns mascot, as well as the Dude Wipes Mascot, were on the raft, along with a videographer. However, at the moment of the big reveal, the videographer lost his footing while maneuvering for a better shot and fell into the lake.

Chomps, the Browns’ mascot, quickly threw the photog a life preserver.

The incident, as discussed on ESPN’s new SC+ show with Gary Striewski and Randy Scott, was initially treated as a hoax, as it involved a sanitary product brand, Dude Wipes, and may have been staged to garner publicity, according to the New York Post.

“Do you think it was staged?” Striewski asked.

“I wouldn’t put it past [them] because people love to go trending,” Scott replied. “But you know what, guy? We’re not even going to say your name. I mean, look, I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

There is truth in this, Browns Owner Jimmy Haslam is well known for his love of “trending.” Many suspect that his desire for publicity is what compelled the Browns to draft Shedeur Sanders into an already overcrowded quarterback room.

So, there’s good reason to believe the Browns staged it.

However, if there were any team in the NFL that could turn a fun, family-friendly helmet reveal into an emergency situation, it would be the Browns.

You decide.