Michael Vick Faces New PR Hit from Alleged Naked Pictures

Even now that he’s back on the field and winning football games, Michael Vick’s stay in prison refuses to be left in the past. The latest problem for Vick’s tarnished image isn’t the crime that put him in prison, but his alleged activities while inside.

According to BlackSportsOnline, a woman claiming to have had a relationship with Vick during his prison term is now trying to sell naked pictures of the Eagle QB. The site observes that there’s no independent verification of whether the pictures are real (or, for that matter, the relationship).

Vick has two children with his fiancée, Kijafa Frink.

For almost any other athlete with a profile as high as Vick’s, the potential scandal surrounding this story would be a huge threat to damage his public persona. However, for Vick, there’s really nothing that can happen to his reputation that hasn’t been done already.

A substantial fraction of fans will never forgive Vick for running the dogfighting ring that landed him in prison in the first place. Even for those who have opted to put that transgression in the past, a sex scandal (true or otherwise) becomes second-string by comparison.

By the same token, Vick is already such a PR pariah that his career is in no danger of repercussions from this latest round of allegations. The Eagles were willing to take a chance on him straight out of prison—they’re not about to change their minds over his current brush with scandal.

None of that is to say that cheating on his fiancée and the mother of his children wouldn’t be an awful thing to have done, provided Vick actually did it. However—even if he did—it’s just not on the same level as torturing animals, a crime for which (as far as the justice system is concerned) he’s already served his time.