A couple of observations from a Cincy person:
Joe seems much happier around football
public perception of Joe is much better when he isn’t doing pap walks with a 23 year old “influencer.” People don’t even seem to mind the Hollywood Joe thing. We like that he is seemly out lobbying for his city and his team. But Poon does nothing positive for his image. Something is off with that dynamic and everyone can see it. PR is just public manipulation and most educated people find purposeful manipulation insulting.
Clearly Joe’s team or even Joe himself has noticed the uptick in criticism because since the Met he has shown up for OTAs ( maybe even a day or two before he planned to) and I don’t care what anyone says, that day he allowed bengals socials to take 77 photos of him dancing and working out is not typical. That was performative. He needed everyone to see and talk about that day and football and move on from the Poon shit show that he has been engaged in.
He clearly has seen or heard about the criticism because he even responded to one of those questions when the team is walking out of practice from the NFL socials teams yesterday when Kid Cudi was at practice. He never does that. He is not known to get involved with any of the socials team’s activities but clearly he knows his image has taken a hit. He should do more this. Be more playful with the people that support you.
He needs to stay away from any more public appearances with OP. She is just bad for him. I know last season was emotional for him due to another injury but I can’t help but feel like some of his general grumpiness (on the sidelines or at press conferences) has to do with his unstable social life. All his own doing of course.
Even if Poon is to come to games, she will not be shown on TV or the big screen in his suite. His suite is never shown. Only when Jake Browning was playing and Stephanie was in there in her proactive outfits was it shown. Also- no one has seen her at the stadium, downtown, or anywhere other than the suburb in which Joe lives and I am pretty sure that picture of her walking was orchestrated by her.
it seems like Joe lost a fair amount of his friends with the OH split. That usually happens when someone in the relationship has clearly mistreated the other one. Sad. This could explain why his best friends seem to be high school bestie, Zacciah, Chicken man, and a vapid 23 year clout chaser. I even think it’s been weird with Sam.
I think it’s normal for Joe to change and evolve in ways and things are definitely complex when experiencing the level of fame that he has but if he abandons all the qualities that made him so adored to begin with, his fame won’t last long.