There are many ways that soccer players can turn into legends, especially during a World Cup. But thanks to social media, athletes don’t need to score a goal or win a match for fame—they just need enough people on board.
At least that is the case for New Zealand defender Tim Payne, who blew up in popularity even before kickoff.
Ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Argentine soccer influencer Valen “El Scarso” Scarsini set out to make famous a player he considered to be the least known in the tournament, calling on his fans to follow Payne on social media.
Scarsini’s bit has been successful. Payne has since grown his following from 5,000 followers on Instagram to a head-spinning 5.9 million—more than the entire population of his home country.
Here come the brands
But like with anything that goes viral, brands are already trying to tap into Payne’s newfound popularity.
In a recent video posted to Instagram by Payne and Scarsini—where the player and influencer meet in person—Payne thanked El Scarso for spearheading the campaign that brought him fame.
In the comments section, brands flooded the comments, trying to insert themselves into the story.
“Football brining the world together,” WhatsApp commented.
Duolingo’s Spanish account added, “the world’s best translator was missing.” And even Domino’s Pizza jumped in, saying “dad and dad finally together.”
“Who do you think you’re tagging?”
But out of all the companies trying to cash in on Payne’s cultural relevance while it lasts, DoorDash has gained the most attention for a rather surprising reason: The brand keeps tagging the wrong account.
On X, DoorDash appeared to be referencing the New Zealand player in a post, but instead tagged rapper T-Pain, who seemed to be unamused by the mistake.
“Saw @TPAIN warming up. Looks like he’s ready to deliver,” DoorDash posted during the New Zealand game, adding, “@NZ_Football, still plenty of time. small tactical suggestion: give the ball to @TPAIN.”
T-Pain quickly responded. “Who do you think you’re tagging??,” he said on X. “The intern is gonna shit a brick when they realize.”
Users found the exchange entertaining, with the series of posts garnering thousands of views.
“Adding the DoorDash social team accidentally tagging T-Pain multiple times tonight, thinking they’re tagging New Zealand’s Tim Payne, to my list of favorite World Cup moments,” a user added.
But the joke might have gone too far, and as the DoorDash account continued tagging T-Pain, the joke became less amusing to the musician and users alike.
“I literally don’t play soccer,” he said in a post. Another post added, “Are you all okay??? @DoorDash, stop tagging me in these soccer posts.”
Many users began questioning whether the errors were genuine mistakes or deliberate engagement farming—particularly as the account continued posting over 10 times with the typo intact.
“I just find this social strategy sort of pathetic,” a user said on X, speculating that DoorDash tagged the rapper on purpose. “It genuinely is not that hard to be good at social media while staying ethical, not actively bothering celebrities, and making content about what your company actually does.”
Others celebrated the brand’s perceived wit. “[It] cost them $0 to basically collab with tpain on a joke most of the world is in on,” a user said on X.”
Reached for comment, a spokesperson for DoorDash told Fast Company that it knew what it was doing the whole time.
“[In] partnership with T-Pain, we executed a fun campaign to connect fans from around the world and remind people that DoorDash has whatever they need throughout the World Cup,” the statement read.
Yet, even as the world continued to speculate about whether the posts were marketing genius or just a silly mistake, DoorDash continued the bit on social media on Monday.
Responding to the viral attention, it said, “to everyone who saw my tweets last night … no you didn’t.”
This story has been updated to include DoorDash’s response to our inquiry.