Cincinnati Bengals defensive captain Sam Hubbard said the team is playing with the inspiration of Harambe, the gorilla killed at the Cincinnati Zoo whose death received global attention in 2016, amid its ongoing Super Bowl LVI run.
Hubbard appeared on Barstool Sports' Pardon My Take podcast this week and was asked by co-host PFT Commenter if there had been "discussion around the locker room about winning this won for Harambe," who became a viral meme after receiving overwhelming support following the incident that led to his death in May 2016.
"That's our guy, that's our hero," Hubbard said with a smile. "I think that's known. It kinda goes without saying. We're doing this for him.
It's worth noting that Pardon My Take is both a sports and satire podcast and has occasionally referenced Harambe as "our sweet prince" as a continued running joke since the internet trend nearly six years ago, around the same time the show initially launched in 2016.
Harambe's death was initially treated as a serious report as the 7-year-old gorilla was shot to death by a Cincinnati Zoo employee amid fear that a 4-year-old human boy who crawled into his enclosed habit was in grave danger.
A Change.org petition titled 'Justice for Harambe' -- which called for the child's parents to be held accountable for not supervising the child -- was launched after video footage of the incident went viral and gained more than 338,000 signatures within 48 hours, while the hashtags #JusticeForHamabe and #RIPHarambe trended on social media.
However, 'Weird Twitter' -- which refers to Twitter users known to experiment with spelling, punctuation and format for humor, a style PFT Commenter has mastered -- quickly jumped on the Harambe trend and ironically featured him in tributes to celebrities that died in 2016 including Prince, Muhammad Ali and David Bowie, as well as changing popular song lyrics to be about the late gorilla and writing original ones in dedication to his memory.
Hubbard, a Cincinnati native, was at Ohio State in between his redshirt freshman and sophomore seasons when the Harambe incident took place.
The 26-year-old was selected by the hometown Bengals at No. 77 overall in the third round of the 2018 NFL Draft.
Hubbard signed a four-year, $40 million extension to stay in Cincinnati this past offseason.
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