A California father has spoken out after people angry with his 4-year-old daughter’s wrong predictions about NFL games sent the family death threats online.
Anthony Donatelli has been posting lighthearted videos of his daughter, Reese, choosing the winners of football games since she was nine months old.
In the videos, she predicts the outcomes by grabbing the helmet of the team she thinks will prevail, while often swatting aside the loser.
Things turned from playful to ugly for the family earlier this month, when some of Reese’s picks did not pan out.
Donatelli received messages on his Instagram from people claiming they had bet and lost thousands of dollars based on the flippant advice of a toddler. Some of those messages, he said, contained death threats.
‘It’s nuts,’ Donatelli told The Los Angeles Times. ‘She’s obviously not an NFL analyst. She’s picking teams based on the color of her dress, or she’ll pick the Packers because she likes cheese. She just relates these silly little things as reasons why she picks certain teams.’
Even Cardi B was among Reese’s doubters. While the pop star was recording a livestream this past Sunday during the game between team she was rooting for, the New England Patriots, and the Houston Texans, she briefly lost her temper because the Pats were losing.
‘That little white girl said that we were gonna win! F*** that b****!’ Cardi B said before catching herself and apologizing. ‘I didn’t mean to say that.’
Anthony Donatelli said his family got death threats after his 4-year-old daughter, Reese, incorrectly guessed the winners of NFL playoff games
Cardi B’s boyfriend, Stefon Diggs, is a wide receiver on the Patriots.
The Texans were briefly up 10-7 in the second quarter, but the Patriots ended up winning 28-16, advancing them to the AFC championship against the Denver Broncos. Reese’s prediction was right after all.
Donatelli said called Cardi B’s comments ‘unfortunate’ but clarified he was not looking to start something with her.
‘I’m not here to fight fire with fire. I’m not angry,’ he said. ‘We don’t want anybody or anything to ruin what Reese and I have created and how we bond.’
Donatelli said in an interview with the LA Times that he bought the mini NFL helmets they use in the videos to help Reese learn colors and geography. It doubled as a way to introduce her to football.
‘I would put the match-ups of who was going to play that week in front of her, and for the past four years she’s been calling football games. And she’s been pretty dang good at it,’ he said.
Reese’s squeaky clean record faltered in the first week of the playoffs this year, wrongly guessing each of the six matchups. The next week, she went one for nine.
Most of the commenters on the most recent prediction video appear to understand that this is just for laughs, but there were some people who were genuinely angry with the young girl.
Pictured: Cardi B in the middle of cursing out Reese because the New England Patriots, the team she was rooting for, were losing to the Houston Texans
Pictured: Reese briefly picked the Denver Broncos to defeat the Buffalo Bills this past Sunday, then switched her pick to the Bills. The Bills ended up losing in overtime
‘Please can i dislike this video,’ one person said.
‘Arrest her rn,’ another said.
‘I’m going to hire a bear as a hitman on her,’ a third wrote, a reference to her picking the Chicago Bears to win. The Bears narrowly lost in overtime to the Los Angeles Rams.
Donatelli said he isn’t planning on stopping the videos, despite the recent vitriol against his daughter.
