Remember “the rumor”? You know, the one about Golden Tate and Russell Wilson’s wife, the one that purportedly explained why the Seahawks didn’t resign Tate and let him jet to Detroit? The one that purportedly explained the dust-up between Tate and Percy Harvin before Super Bowl XLIX? Yeah, that one.

It was the kind of salacious bit of gossip that no legitimate sports writer would touch but that spread like wildfire online. It was also the kind of story that typically would never be addressed by the story’s subject. How many times do celebrities hit back at US Weekly or InTouch?

Well, Tate has responded. Head-on. People who want to believe the rumor probably won’t be swayed (“Well, of course, he’s going to deny it,” they’ll say while rolling their eyes), but good on him for speaking up. Sometimes you just can’t turn the other cheek.

h/t Seattlish