Three-time Super Bowl champion Jerry Rice was caught berating a pair of reporters at a celebrity golf tournament in Lake Tahoe while threatening violence against them.
Rice, 61, was in the American Century Championship practice round with an array of high-profile athletes, including Jason and Travis Kelce, Blake Griffin and Aaron Rodgers, when two Kansas City-based media members asked him about the Chiefs’ 2024 wide receiver options on Friday.
Reporters claimed all they wanted to know was whether Patrick Mahomes’ wide receivers this year were “good enough to win another Super Bowl.”
At first, Rice turned his back on the duo after briefly speaking with them, but viral images posted by TMZ Social media shows the former 49ers star counterattacking the men seconds later and confronting them.
At one point, Pro Football Hall of Famer Rice can be heard yelling at one of the boys: “I’m going to f— you up!”
Former 49ers star Jerry Rice smiles on the 12th hole at the American Century Championship
The 61-year-old former wide receiver finished tied for 22nd on Friday with Austin Reaves.
He then advised both journalists: “If you want something, come and get it!” before disassociating himself from the dispute.
The two journalists, bewildered, told other attendees at the charity tournament that what had happened was “the craziest thing that has ever happened to me in my life.”
But according to TMZRice was convinced that both reporters wanted to ask him questions during the golf game.
The two-time NFL Offensive Player of the Year told the outlet he took the questions as criticism of his former Niners team and insisted the men smiled at him while knowing full well how Rice, who played 16 seasons in San Francisco, would react.
What’s more, the 49ers narrowly lost to the Chiefs (25-22) in Super Bowl LVIII in February.
Rice said he saw the reporters’ questions as a dig at his beloved Niners (seen in January)
Rice, a two-time Offensive Player of the Year, won three Super Bowls in 16 years with the Niners.
“I’m going to defend the San Francisco 49ers,” he said. “This is my story.”
Rice finished tied for 22nd in the American Century Championship on Friday along with Lakers star Austin Reaves.
In April, Rice’s son Brenden, who also plays wide receiver like his father, was selected by the LA Chargers with the 225th pick in the seventh round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Rice’s eldest son, Jerry Rice Jr., also briefly made it to the NFL in 2014, when he signed a contract with the Washington Commanders. However, the wide receiver suffered a torn labrum during training camp that year and was waived in May 2015.