Above is the clip for those of you who didn’t stick around for the post-game press conference. “Investigate 9/11. 9/11 was perpetrated by people within our own government,” Matthew Mills said before being yanked off stage by security and placed under arrest for trespassing.
As bizarre as that moment was, perhaps what was even more so was just how seemingly simple it was Mills, a 30-year-old from Brooklyn without a Super Bowl ticket or a valid press pass, to find himself on stage next to Seattle linebacker Malcolm Smith, the game’s MVP, last night.
As Mills, a self-described independent journalist, explained it to the Newark Star-Ledger, all it took was an old press pass and the simple refrain of “I’m late” to get him past layers of high-priced security:
Around Mills’ neck was an old credential from a festival he covered, a rectangular badge that, at quick glance, didn’t look too dissimilar from the ones issued to media members, team employees and others who worked the Super Bowl.
He also used a common refrain whenever hassled by security, which is supposed verify each credential or ticket with a barcode along with putting attendees through other security screenings. “I just said I was running late for work and I had to get in there,” Mills said. “It was that simple.”
Mills said he got through multiple layers of security using that bogus story. “I didn’t think that I’d get that far,” Mill said. “I just kept getting closer and closer. Once I got past the final gate and into the stadium, I was dumbfounded.”
The way Mills tells it, he hadn’t even originally planned to go to the game. He was just hoping to get close to the stadium to do some fan interviews, he says, but ultimately called an audible after seeing an employee bus at Secaucus Junction and boarding it largely on a whim.
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