According to multiple reports, Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys hosted a party on Friday night in which as many as 30 people attended, including Ezekiel Elliott.

There are questions about the party and who was ultimately responsible for throwing it, but the principal figures did not immediately respond to queries, creating even more uncertainty amid the coronavirus pandemic, which has already caused an enormous amount of fear, alarm and confusion in American life.

Do Dak and Zeke think they are virus-proof? That covid-19 is a Cowboys fan? This is so unnecessarily careless. Pandemic be damned, Dak Prescott hosts a party for 30 – ProFootballTalk https://t.co/bsklOm9dE9 — mike freeman (@mikefreemanNFL) April 11, 2020

The initial report of the party is a bombshell story in its own right, but as of Saturday night, another set of very curious details is emerging about this Cowboys-centered drama.

The initial report came from TMZ. A note was posted at 6:34 p.m. Eastern time on Saturday that an officer was “unable to verify a report” of the party. However, as you can see above, Pro Football Talk had an item on the story involving two of the most high-profile Cowboys. As of 8:30 Eastern time on Saturday, that story had not been taken down or retracted.

The New York Post published a story just before 6 Eastern on Saturday. As of 8:30 Eastern, that story had also not been taken down or retracted in the hours since various mainstream outlets ran with TMZ’s report.

What is also notable is that a few hours after the story was originally reported, Dak Prescott or his inner circle had not yet addressed the TMZ report when the outlet tried to contact them for comment. Maybe this story involving the Cowboys is overblown, but the lack of an immediate denial by Prescott’s camp is yet another bizarre twist.

More precisely, this Cowboys-centric story isn’t going to provide reassurance in any way — not about the people responsible for this gathering, which plainly violated social distancing practices and guidelines for large-group events, and not about Prescott’s or Elliott’s awareness of how serious this situation truly is.

Ultimate responsibility for this party might not lie with Dak Prescott, but he will need to answer questions about it, and his initial silence is hard to view as anything other than deafening.