Crownbet’s botched Buckley gag angers Joffa

THE AFL’s official betting partner has angered Collingwood cheer squad identity Jeff “Joffa’’ Corfe by using a doctored image of him calling for Pies coach Nathan Buckley to be sacked.

Joffa has called the botched Crownbet promotion “fake news”.

• Picture gallery: The whacky world of Joffa

THE AFL’s official betting partner has angered Collingwood cheer squad identity Jeff “Joffa’’ Corfe by using a doctored image of him calling for Pies coach Nathan Buckley to be sacked.

Crownbet today apologised to the Collingwood fanatic after a fake image of him holding a sign with the words “Buckley Out’’ was used on its social media channels.

Pies president Eddie McGuire demanded the agency take down the mischievous post, circulated after his team’s Anzac Day loss to Essendon along with the words “Joffa has spoken’’.

Corfe told the Herald Sun he was upset to learn of the stunt after finishing night shift early today.

The botched Crownbet campaign that infuriated Joffa.

“I got a shock when I first saw it and 825 people on Facebook had shared it and 4.4 thousand had liked it,’’ he said.

“And the problem with stuff like this in the internet is that people believe it.

“It’s fake news.’’

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Corfe said he was not been consulted by Crownbet nor gave permission for his image to be digitally altered with his trademark gold jacket painted black and “Game Over’’ sign doctored.

He said he accepted an apology and appreciated a $500 donation made to the Epilepsy Foundation made on his behalf but was disappointed he had been falsely portrayed.

“It’s not true and this kind of activity can actually put you in danger,’’ he said.

“There are some bloody lunatics out there.’’

Crownbet spokesman Matthew Campbell said: “We unreservedly apologise to Joffa that our tongue-in-cheek post was out of step with his support of Bucks and love of the Pies.

“As soon as we saw that Joffa wasn’t happy we deleted the image and made his suggested donation.’’

Corfe said it exposed the danger of social media.

“It’s gone semi-viral and it happened pretty quickly,’’ he said.

“What they did was nasty and hurtful, I think.’’

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