Yahoo Sports NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus faces PETA fallout for shark wrestling video on trip with Tyreek Hill
NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus grabbed a shark by its tail on a fishing trip with Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill and shared multiple videos of the interaction on social media. Naturally, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals entered the chat.
In the video Rosenhaus posted June 20, the person recording can be heard urging the agent to leave the shark alone before he proceeds to pull and tug on the visibly lethargic fish. "We don't have good enough insurance for that," the unnamed person added before inviting Hill to jump into the water with his agent. "Hell, nah!" the wide receiver said.
"'Don't grab him,' is right! NFL agent Drew Rosenhaus should be ashamed of harassing this shark for clout," PETA wrote Monday on social media.
The rebuke didn't stop there. "The shark is already SUFFERING from a hook in his mouth without a wannabe macho man from the NFL yanking on his tail," PETA added.
“Don’t grab him” is right!@NFL agent @DrewJRosenhaus should be ashamed of harassing this shark for clout. pic.twitter.com/QjzeHrKFDK
— PETA (@peta) June 26, 2023
Rosenhaus posted another video of himself putting his hands on the shark and tagged BlacktipH Fishing, a YouTube show that claims to be "centered around conservation and promotes catch and release fishing."
Hosted by Josh Jorgensen and co-host Jake Jorgensen, the show opted not to share any of Rosenhaus' videos on Twitter.
Hill posted a video of himself attempting to reel in the fish, which BlacktipH did share.
Got in a battle for 45 min just find out it was a shark !! Good times ✌🏿 pic.twitter.com/qJnai8Yt9R
— Ty Hill (@cheetah) June 20, 2023
Rosenhaus has more than 150 clients and is reportedly responsible for negotiating contracts worth more than $7 billion. Dr. Chris Lowe, a shark expert, told USA Today the agent was lucky to grope the fish and get back to negotiating unscathed.
“The fact that that shark just kind of slowly ambled towards the boat. Kind of banged into the boat, kind of rolled upside down, those are the behaviors we see from a shark that’s either been caught and exhausted from the fight and then released, and they’re kind of groggy,” Lowe said.
“When you grab a shark by the tail that way, they can literally do a circle, come back around, and that’s how most fishermen are bit.”
Animal mistreatment isn't the only controversy to stem from water activities with Hill.
The 29-year-old is under investigation over an alleged assault and battery. He allegedly hit a charter boat employee on the night of June 18 in Miami after an incident at Miami's Haulover Park, two days before all of the shark videos were posted.
The alleged victim is pressing charges. Rosenhaus did his weekly spot on South Florida TV station WSVN on Sunday night where he deferred comment on the case.
"I can't talk about this just because it's an ongoing ... let's just call it an ongoing situation. And I haven't commented. A lot of people have reached out; we've just decided not to say anything at this time and just going to stick with that for now," he said.
As legal proceedings unfold in Hill's situation, it's unclear if Rosenhaus will face any repercussions for his stunt.
