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Dianna Russini
I FaceTimed With Vikings Coach Kevin O’Connell …
No, You Didn’t!
Published
Dianna Russini is in hot water again … but this time it’s not for holding hands with an NFL coach … rather it’s for lying about FaceTiming with one.
Here’s the scoop … in January, the former NFL reporter for The Athletic got pulled over by a police officer for using her phone while driving in New Jersey. Their subsequent interaction was caught on bodycam video that was posted Monday on X by Adam Herbets of Center Square.
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In the clip, the officer walks up to Russini’s vehicle and asks for her license and registration. Russini introduces herself as an NFL journalist who just broke a story about Buffalo Bills coach Sean McDermott getting fired, saying she was sending a tweet about it before she was stopped.
Then she hands her documentation to the officer, asking him if he’s a Giants or Jets fan. The cop says he’s actually a Vikings fan, prompting Russini to show him a text exchange between her and Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell on her phone, which was enough for Russini to weasel out of the traffic ticket.
But she couldn’t weasel out of her lie. In February, Russini was a guest on the radio show, “Stugotz and Company,” where she claimed she FaceTimed with O’Connell when she was stopped by the police officer. Clearly, that’s not the case, per the bodycam footage. Even worse, Russini’s false claim was repeated in an anecdote in a New York Times expose about her just last week.
As we previously reported … Russini got caught up in a scandal with New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel in April when photos emerged of the two hugging and holding hands at a resort in Sedona, Arizona. The New York Post also published pics of the pair kissing at an NYC bar in 2020. Both are married to other people.
Although Russini denied she was having an affair with Vrabel, she resigned from her job at The Athletic amid the media frenzy. As for Vrabel, he said he would take accountability for the distraction the scandal caused his family and is now working on his marriage with his wife.
