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Veteran Cleveland Browns reporter's viral joke about Bill Belichick's relationship with Jordon Hudson still making waves days later

Originally posted on A to Z Sports | By Sophie Weller | Last updated Aug 3, 2025 5:24 PM ET

Cleveland Browns reporter Mary Kay Cabot made a joke about Bill Belichick's relationship with 24-year-old Jordon Hudson on Friday when she accepted the Bill Nunn Memorial Award during the Pro Football Hall of Fame Gold Jacket Dinner in Canton, Ohio.

Cabot briefly covered Belichick when the two crossed paths in Cleveland in 1991.

“Bill Belichick was the first Browns coach I ever covered,” Cabot said. “You see, if you start out with Bill Belichick, no one can rattle you after that. If Bill didn’t like something I wrote, he’d call and yell at me. If you asked a dumb question, he’d call you out. Eventually, I had to learn to stand up to him. During one of those yelling matches, I told him, if you don’t have the ‘footballs’ to say that to the guys, then don’t say it to me. Bam.”

And here's where her joke came into play.

“But now, I totally understand why Bill gave me such a hard time. I was 28 at the time, and he just couldn’t relate to a woman that old,” Cabot added.

.@MaryKayCabot with the one-liner of the year. I’m crying

( via https://t.co/SaJ0lj4fsP) pic.twitter.com/e0NF10V3jy
— Nicki Jhabvala (@NickiJhabvala) August 2, 2025

Many news outlets picked this up, including the New York Post. However, they said that Cabot took a "savage shot" at Belichick.

That's when she jumped in and shut that down.

"It was a joke! Not a "savage shot." Just a little joke! You can see that from my delivery. All in good fun!," Cabot posted on Twitter, formerly known as X.

Hudson also somewhat responded to Cabot's comments. In a post of the video, someone commented, “Not much of a ‘laugh.’ No wonder so many have contempt for the media, especially those who want to be the story rather than (report) on the story.” Hudson retweeted this comment

Belichick and Hudson's relationship was truly brought into the spotlight after a controversial CBS Sunday Morning Interview. CBS’s Tony Dokoupil asked Belichick how he and Hudson met during the interview. Hudson then walked straight into the interview and put an end to that line of questioning.

“We’re not talking about this,” she said.

The fallout from this has included multiple reports, all with different claims regarding Hudson’s involvement in Belichick’s professional and personal affairs. And it has led to a few jokes, including Cabot's.

This article first appeared on A to Z Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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