DoorDash keeps – DoorDash jumped into a viral World Cup popularity story built around New Zealand defender Tim Payne—only to repeatedly tag rapper T-Pain instead. The mix-up drew thousands of views, sparked accusations of engagement farming, and left T-Pain publicly urging Doo
For a few days. Tim Payne’s name seemed to be everywhere—right when the 2026 FIFA World Cup is still only building momentum on social media. New Zealand defender Payne went from 5. 000 Instagram followers to 5.9 million. thanks in part to an Argentinian influencer who decided the tournament needed a new face.
Valen “El Scarso” Scarsini had picked Payne as “the least known” player in the World Cup and pushed his fans to follow the defender ahead of kickoff. The campaign worked in a way that’s hard to miss: Payne’s follower growth is now larger than the entire population of his home country.
As his online fame surged, brands rushed to attach themselves to the moment. Payne and Scarsini later met in person in an Instagram video. and Payne thanked El Scarso for spearheading the push that brought him attention. In the comments. companies piled in with jokes and product-related lines—WhatsApp wrote “Football brining the world together. ” Duolingo’s Spanish account added “the world’s best translator was missing. ” and Domino’s Pizza chimed in with “dad and dad finally together.”.
Then DoorDash entered the conversation, and its timing wasn’t the problem. The problem was the tag.
On X, DoorDash attempted to reference Payne during the New Zealand game, but instead tagged the rapper T-Pain. In one post, DoorDash wrote: “Saw @TPAIN warming up. Looks like he’s ready to deliver,” then added: “@NZ_Football, still plenty of time. small tactical suggestion: give the ball to @TPAIN.”
T-Pain wasn’t amused. He replied on X: “Who do you think you’re tagging??” and added, “The intern is gonna shit a brick when they realize.” Users shared the back-and-forth as a World Cup moment, and the exchange reportedly pulled thousands of views.
But the joke dragged on. As DoorDash continued to tag T-Pain, the situation stopped feeling like a one-off slip and began to feel like a running bit—at least to the people watching it.
One user described it as a favorite World Cup moment. writing: “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.” Another question followed soon after: was it genuinely a mistake. or was it deliberate engagement farming?.
T-Pain also pushed back in plain terms. “I literally don’t play soccer,” he posted. In another post, he added: “Are you all okay??? @DoorDash, stop tagging me in these soccer posts.”
The speculation widened as DoorDash kept posting—over 10 times—with the typo intact. Some users argued the tactic was manipulative. “I just find this social strategy sort of pathetic. ” one person wrote on X. adding: “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 saw it differently. celebrating the brand’s perceived wit and claiming it cost nothing to piggyback on the meme.
Despite the noise, DoorDash did not resolve the debate clearly when Fast Company reached out for confirmation on whether the mistaken exchanges were planned. The outlet did not receive comment in time for publication.
What DoorDash did offer came later—after the viral attention had already peaked. On Monday, DoorDash responded to the chatter with a short line: “to everyone who saw my tweets last night … no you didn’t.”
DoorDash Tim Payne T-Pain World Cup 2026 social media marketing Valen El Scarso Scarsini Instagram X WhatsApp Duolingo Domino's Pizza
How do you mess up a tag that badly lol.
DoorDash really said “let’s deliver” to the wrong guy. I swear these companies don’t even look at what they’re posting half the time.
Wait so Tim Payne is the soccer dude and T-Pain is the rapper?? DoorDash probably didn’t “tag wrong” they just confused the internet because both are like “Payne”… honestly kind of genius marketing? But also that’s dumb if it annoyed him.
This is why I don’t trust engagement farming brands. First they jump on the World Cup, then they start replying to whoever has the same name and act like it’s content. If T-Pain is mad I get it, like who gives you the right to tag him for football delivery or whatever. Also the follower numbers thing sounds fake like how’s 5 million followers real in a week??