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UPDATED 5:50 p.m. PT

Turns out Tim Tebow isn't quite ready for the political limelight.

In an Instagram video posted Thursday afternoon the former college football quarterback, NFL washout and evangelical icon said he won't be speaking at next week's Republican National Convention.

Earlier, several news outlets reported that Trump had tapped him to speak at the Cleveland event.

But all the hubbub was for naught. Tebow said he first heard he was speaking at the conventions this morning after returning from the Philippines.

"It's amazing how fast rumors fly," he said, adding that right now, he's not ready for a political career.

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Trump has a long history of glomming onto celebrities for personal gain, but Tebow's inclusion in the list of convention speakers was some next-level American weirdness.

Tebow ascended to celebrity status as a superstar at the University of Florida, but his NFL career quickly flamed out. He remains a cultural touchstone to many for his outspoken religious views, however. During the 2010 Super Bowl, an anti-abortion ad featuring Tebow and his mother touched off controversy.

Trump, meanwhile, has run a so-far-successful presidential campaign based largely on racial dogwhistles, xenophobia and the simmering rage of many white Americans. He's been in multiple marriages and has a history of being creepy toward women. This April, Trump took five different positions on abortion within a three-day span.

So perhaps the initial rumors of Trump tapping Tebow for the Republican National Convention were based on an assumption the candidate was trying to reach evangelical voters?

That's a decent hypothesis -- but then there's this bit from The New York Timeson Thursday.

Nearly four-fifths of white evangelical voters plan to cast their ballots for Donald J. Trump despite his multiple marriages, lack of piety and inconsistency on the issues they care about most, a new poll has found.

Um ... well then.

Tebow was initially reported to speak on the convention's fourth and final night, the same evening Trump himself is scheduled to officially accept the Republican nomination for president.

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TopicsDonald TrumpPolitics

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