ESPN reporter Laura Rutledge admitted to creating a burner Twitter account to defend her husband, former MLB player Josh Rutledge, from critics during his career.

Some are going to view the revelation as no big deal, while others would suggest that journalistic integrity is compromised with such a step.

Rutledge admitted to the burner account – using the name BillyHalo76 – during an appearance on the “Marchand Sports Media” podcast. Her husband was playing in the Los Angeles Angels organization at the time.

She admits her actions were probably wrong and pinky swears that it didn’t happen again.

“When he was with the Angels, I made a fake Twitter — I’m admitting this, OK? I know this was wrong. I’m not doing it ever since,” Rutledge said. “But this was a one-time thing, and the name was BillyHalo76 or something. And BillyHalo only tweeted positive things about Josh Rutledge.”

She went on to say that she would send out a “Mike Trout tweet” now and again because she was worried “someone’s gonna figure this out.”

Laura Rutledge and Her Burner Account

I’m not quite sure how the occasional Mike Trout tweet was supposed to throw people off the trail. Like, a guy with the word ‘Halo’ in his handle is clearly an Angels fan. But she didn’t think an obsession with a player like Rutledge would stand out? Compared to Billy’s focus on Trout, who is light-years more important as a player?

Anyway, it must have worked since we’re just now finding out about it.

Laura admitted that her husband, Josh Rutledge, was unaware of the burner account and would likely not have been happy about it.

“So if anyone had said something negative about him, I would find them and then BillyHalo would be like, ‘you’re wrong,’ and back it up with stats,” she said.

“I don’t think Josh knows this. If he watches this, he’s gonna be really mad at me.”

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Rutledge was Miss Florida

Look, it’s cute and all, a wife defending her husband by creating a burner account. But the fact remains that Laura Rutledge was hired by ESPN the same year her husband was with the Angels.

It seems likely that the network at the time would have frowned upon her secretly backing a player sans objectivity, if not the entire team he plays for. Still, she is primarily a football reporter. No harm, no foul.

Rutledge went on to point out that it was challenging for her to deal with criticism of her husband’s play on the field. That came to a head when the Angels traded him to the Red Sox and he was forced to change positions.

“I really struggled with (the criticsm),” Laura said. “There were times when he played for the Red Sox … they had him at third base, and he hadn’t played third base since middle school. He barely played third base.”

“And he’s at the hot corner and they’re in Fenway, he has a couple of errors in a game and people are booing him and I’m like, ‘shut up!’”

Josh Rutledge was a versatile infielder who played six seasons in the MLB, from 2012 to 2017, with the Colorado Rockies and Boston Red Sox. Injuries hampered his career in later years.

Laura Rutledge is an accomplished ESPN reporter and host, recognized for her contributions to the SEC Network, College Football Live, and NFL Live. She won the title of Miss Florida in 2012.

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