Puka Nacua’s first time meeting Will Ferrell was painfully awkward: ‘I was so embarrassed’
Puka Nacua went from being a little-known fifth-round rookie out of BYU to taking the NFL by storm with the best rookie season ever by a wide receiver. That’s earned him opportunities that a lot of Day 3 picks don’t get, like meeting star actors.
At an LAFC game recently, Nacua got the chance to meet Will Ferrell. Obviously excited about getting to talk to a star like Ferrell, Nacua absolutely choked under pressure. He told Ferrell that he just watched one of his old movies, except instead of saying “Semi-Pro”, he blurted out “Tropic Thunder” – a film Ferrell most definitely is not in.
“I went to an LAFC game not too long ago and met Will Ferrell,” Nacua said on Maxx Crosby’s podcast. “I just watched that movie ‘Semi-Pro’ and I’m like, ‘I just watched one of your old movies.’ I’m blanking on it and I say, ‘Tropic Thunder’. He’s like, ‘Oh, I’m not in that.’ I’m like, ‘I know you’re not in that.’ He’s like, ‘What is it about?’ And I was like, ‘The basketball team! Flint!’ He’s like, ‘Oh, you mean Semi-Pro?’ I was so embarrassed. I blew my moment. It was so bad.”
Thankfully, Ferrell’s son came over and diffused the awkward silence by telling Nacua he’s a big fan.
“But then his son came up and was like, ‘Puka, I’m a fan.’ And he saved it,” Nacua said.
In Nacua’s defense, it was an honest mistake and he didn’t pull “Tropic Thunder” completely out of nowhere. Ferrell’s team in “Semi-Pro” is the Flint Tropics, so that’s where the mix-up came from.
That won’t make Nacua feel any better about getting one of Ferrell’s movies wrong but at least you can see where he was going with it.
