Rob Lowe (incorrectly) tweets that Peyton Manning is retiring

Rob Lowe sparked a wildfire on Twitter yesterday when he tweeted that Peyton Manning, quarterback for the Indianapolis Colts, would announce that he was retiring later on in the day.

It came as a shock to fans of the Colts and Manning, but as it turned out Lowe’s report was bogus. Shortly after the “news” broke, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen sent out this tweet refuting Lowe’s report: “Archie Manning laughed when he heard @RobLowe said Peyton will retire, “Noooo…he ain’t retiring. I think he would’ve told me.”

Lowe did, at least, try to verify what he was hearing. After his initial tweet, he sent one over to NFL Network broadcaster Rich Eisen, inquiring on the validity of the news. “My people are saying Manning will retire today,” he wrote. “What do you hear?”

Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, who happens to be a friend of Rob Lowe–Lowe was the first person Irsay followed on Twitter–had a little fun at Lowe’s expense after, tweeting: “My sources tell me Rob will star in an epic remake of “Deep Throat” with aging porn stars and 4 finger circus clowns!”