Gatorade Apologizes For Tweet, But LeBron Was Actually Drinking Gatorade

By now you’ve heard about the tweet Gatorade published last night in response to the cramps LeBron James suffered when he was knocked out of most of the last seven minutes in Game 1. Gatorade has since issued an apology, and further evidence reveals James was actually drinking Gatorade when he suffered the cramps.

Here’s Gatorade’s statement apologizing for their official account’s tweet during Game 1:

“Our apologies for our response to fans’ tweets during (Thursday) night’s Heat vs. Spurs game,” Gatorade said in a release. “We got caught up in the heat of the battle. As a longtime partner of the Miami Heat, we support the entire team.”

No word on whether the diction, “We got caught up in the *heat* of the battle,” was purposeful or an unfortunate coincidence.

A number of Twitter users, by way of Deadspin, took screen grabs from last night’s Game 1 clearly showing LeBron drinking Gatorade. That’s because it’s the official drink of the NBA.

BodyArmor, the sports drink company Kobe is an angel investor in, and who he mentioned in an IG post from this morning

.@Gatorade @LazyBumDrew Hmmm… are you sure @KingJames wasn't drinking Gatorade last night?? #UpgradeYourSportsDrink pic.twitter.com/UwGZE3qaH5

— BODYARMOR SuperDrink (@DrinkBODYARMOR) June 6, 2014
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@darrenrovell does Lebron have to put Powerade in a different bottle on the bench? That's not a Powerade bottle. pic.twitter.com/9hB8r1yJpm

— Kris Sears (@kasear) June 6, 2014

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@Gatorade is talking smack about their athletes don't cramp up. Uhm Lebron is drinking gatorade. That's your bottle pic.twitter.com/VdoUkiWgbY

— Sugar_H20_Purple (@BuiltChocolate) June 6, 2014

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According to the Wall Street Journal, again by way of Deadspin, Gatorade pays the NBA $18 million a year to be the exclusive sports drink provider to the NBA.

So if you’re a cramped player trying to refill your body with electrolytes — never-mind that science says hydration is unrelated to muscle cramping — you can only drink water or Gatorade.

James officially endorses Powerade, but he drinks Gatorade during games; he has to.