Alex Rodriguez found a new way to set social media ablaze and make some headlines in the process.
People couldn’t stop talking about the former Yankees star’s deeper tan as he watched his Timberwolves, a team he is co-owner of and part of the group set to take full control of the team from Glen Taylor, against the Bucks on Friday night.
The 48-year-old Rodriguez was sitting courtside flanked by fitness instructor girlfriend Jaclyn Cordeiro and ESPN star Stephen A. Smith to see Minnesota eventually fall 112-107.
But it was the former MVP’s darker-than-usual complexion that caught a lot of fans’ eyes on social media.
“Whats happening with a-rod’s tan???” Ringer writer Wosny Lambre wrote on X.
While it’s unclear how Rodriguez managed the look, it did draw comparisons to Ross on “Friends” getting an excessive sprain tan in one episode and the “reverse Sammy Sosa” on the internet — prompting multiple memes.
Sosa’s complexion has gotten lighter because he previously revealed he uses a cream that includes bleach.
Fans offered a few possible explanations for Rodriguez’s look
“A rod fell asleep in the tan bed? @Travonne wrote on X.
@ThisIsAnnaS added,” A rod needs to sue whoever gave him that spray tan.”
On Saturday night, Rodriguez responded to tall the social media chatter in a video on Instagram, saying he fell asleep in the sun while on vacation.
Rodriguez and billionaire businessman Marc Lore agreed to buy the Timberwolves from Talyor for $1.5 billion in 2021 and have since been on a three-track of installments — which they have been meeting — to officially own the team and the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx fully sometime in 2024.
The former MLB All-Star, who had a failed bid to buy the Mets along with ex-fiancee Jennifer Lopez, has become a frequent visitor to Timberwolves games over the past three years.