Madden San Miguel, who is known on social media as “Baby Gronk,” is a fourth grade student who has recently gone viral for an interaction he had with LSU gymnast Olivia Dunne. San Miguel is a 10-year-old who claims he is the No. 1 fourth grade football player in the world, while Dunne, 20, is a college gymnast, who has found social media fame with over 7 million TikTok followers.
“Baby Gronk” received his moniker when football fans on social media saw similarities between him and retired NFL tight end Rob Gronkowski. Madden’s father, Jake San Miguel, has been taking his son to visit football programs on various college campuses and, in the process, assisting him in becoming viral on social media.
As San Miguel’s son gains social media followers and notoriety in the sports world, he and his father have appeared on various podcasts and sat down for interviews with journalists. San Miguel’s father has had a plan in mind for his son from the moment he was born, similar to what business mogul and former NFL tight end LaVar Ball claimed regarding his sons.
In a clip that has been unearthed from the Bring the Juice podcast, “Baby Gronk” is being told by his father how to reply to the interviewer’s questions . When he was asked whether or not he would take Dunne to prom, he grimaced and leaned back while his father laughed and told his son to say, “I already DM’d her and she said yes.”
The entire ordeal, however, was somewhat surprising to 105.3 The Fan’s RJ Choppy and Bobby Belt, eliciting an impassioned response towards trying to spin media content for one’s own personal gain.
“This was gross, and the video looks so much worse,” Belt said. “This is gross on the part of the dad, and it honestly feels kind of gross on the part of the guy sitting here letting it happen in this way.”
Belt compared criticism San Miguel is facing over the edited interview, which is full of the popular “jump cuts” and tight edits, to when the station speaks with Dallas Cowboys owner, president and general manager Jerry Jones. The outlet has received a fair share of text messages stating that they let Jones control the interview when, in fact, it should be the hosts guiding the conversation.
Belt, who was filling the lead chair with Shan Shariff absent, said that if someone gave Shariff the conditions for an interview, he would not only decline it but publicize the encounter and embarrass them on the air. He also expressed how the podcast is devoid of journalistic standards and seemingly trying to capitalize on the transitory prominence of the story.
“You cannot create viral [and] you can’t manufacture viral,” Choppy said. “You either are you aren’t. This kid’s just a kid, [and] he wants no part of it.”
The fomented situation surrounding “Baby Gronk,” according to Choppy, has the potential to have debilitating effects on his mental health and confidence. Overall, is a precarious means of marketing and something the show posed as a selfish attempt for his father to live vicariously through his son.
“You want a poster child for a kid who’s going to have problems when they get older – that’s it right here because of his old man,” Choppy said. “His dad is unknowingly the worst thing for him.”
