Even Pittsburgh’s mayor is throwing shade at Jack Johnson on Twitter
The Jack Johnson signing by the Pittsburgh Penguins has sown so much fan discontent that even Pittsburgh’s mayor is cracking jokes at Johnson’s expense.
Politicians attempting to be funny or topical always has the potential to epically backfire on them. But once in a blue moon, they get it right.
Such was the case for Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto, who made a joke on Twitter that managed to land because it played so perfectly to the discontent Pittsburgh Penguins fans have been feeling since the team signed old, oft-injured defenseman Jack Johnson to a five-year contract.
No. I am in my car leaving downtown to assess damage. No idea who that could be, maybe Jack Johnson? https://t.co/no3D66eozb
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) July 5, 2018
For those that don’t get it, that joke works because the response to Johnson’s signing has been so universally negative that of course he would need a police escort to go anywhere in the Steel City. It was a pretty clever response, though hopefully he got to wherever he was going to assess whatever damage needed assessing.
If you thought Peduto was done cracking jokes at Johnson’s expense, you would be wrong. He also indulged an objectively meh quip about Johnson sharing a name with a popular musician.
Little known fact. They are one and the same. https://t.co/iLD9hxxDeX
— bill peduto (@billpeduto) July 5, 2018
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Peduto was elected Pittsburgh’s mayor in November 2013, which means he has presided over two of the three Penguins Stanley Cup runs during the Sidney Crosby era. It’s nice to see any elected official engaging with news about their city’s professional sports teams, though if Peduto is smart he will quit while he is ahead.
As of July 5, the Johnson signing is the one unequivocal black mark on an otherwise solid free-agency season for the Penguins. In addition to re-signing key contributors Bryan Rust and Riley Sheahan, the team also brought back fan favorite Matt Cullen and gained a potentially valuable draft pick by trading Conor Sheary and Matt Hunwick to the Buffalo Sabres.
Unfortunately for the Penguins, the two storylines concerning them that seem to be most prevalent are still their playoff loss to the Washington Capitals and them wasting the cap space they created in the Sheary/Hunwick trade on Johnson. This is a team in desperate need of some good PR to obscure those sour notes from fans’ memories.