The Duke Basketball star and the United States Senator have bonded over a social media phenomenon, and the two finally met prior to a charity basketball game.
If you haven’t seen or heard, Grayson Allen and United States Senator Ted Cruz look alike.
As Allen was taking college basketball by storm, Cruz was beginning his campaign for the Republican nomination for the President of the United States.
Social media was very quick to jump on the facial similarities between the two and both have been very good sports about the comparison.
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As Cruz was attending Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals between the Houston Rockets and the Golden State Warriors, tweeting out a picture of himself at the game.
Late night comedian on ABC, Jimmy Kimmel, saw the post and called Cruz out for looking like a “blobfish”. After Cruz heard Kimmel’s comments, Cruz challenged Kimmel to a basketball game where the loser would donate $5,000 to a non-political charity of the winner’s choice. Kimmel accepted the challenge.
As Cruz was preparing for the game, he met Grayson Allen in Cruz’s home state of Texas, joking with Kimmel that Allen would play for him with no one noticing since the two look alike.
In a video released by Cruz’s Twitter account, Allen said to Cruz, “I don’t think you need me, you got this”.
Allen’s words of encouragement to Cruz proved to be useful as Ted Cruz defeated Jimmy Kimmel 11-9.
With Cruz’s victory, Jimmy Kimmel donated the $5K to Texas’s Children Hospital and Generation One.
A fun joke on social media turned into an awesome event which was a great cause where everyone was able to have some fun. Maybe the next challenge will be to find a basketball player that looks like Jimmy Kimmel and have him play one on one against Grayson Allen.