Maybe He's Born With It: Does Derek Carr Wear Eyeliner?
Sep. 22 2020, Updated 2:52 p.m. ET
The Las Vegas Raiders kicked off the 2020 football season with an epic home game win at Allegiant Stadium against the New Orleans Saints. And although most fans were hoping that their star quarterback, Derek Carr, would have the same success as he did in 2016, which was the last time the Raiders made the playoffs, several viewers were more focused on something else: his eyes.
More specifically, that Derek appeared to be sporting black eyeliner. Does a smoky eye help intimidate opponents on the field or does he simply have naturally luscious lashes that give the appearance he's wearing makeup?
Does Derek Carr actually wear eyeliner? The consensus isn't completely clear.
If you've ever seen Derek up close, you may have noticed the area around his eyelashes looks rather dark, as if he applied eyeliner earlier that morning. So, obviously, fans and sports enthusiasts alike have questioned it several times in the past.
Derek has milked the rumor, and even jokingly admitted to wearing "guyliner" in an EECU commercial, however, he's also flat-out denied it, saying "the lord blessed [him] with great eyelashes" on The Dan Patrick Show.
In October 2018, it was also rumored that Derek cried on the field after getting hurt in a game against the Seattle Seahawks, according to Belly Up Sports. Although it's also unconfirmed if he was actually crying, or if he was simply in pain, we most likely would have noticed smeared eyeliner had he been wearing any.
Fans have come up with several reasons as to why Derek would be wearing eyeliner in the first place.
In a Raiders Reddit thread, fans have speculated why the quarterback would be wearing eyeliner in the first place, and the answers are pretty hilarious. Reddit user anustart2018 simply answered it was "for intimidation" purposes and capincus backed up this point, saying: "it would be extremely bad a-s for a dude to wear mascara onto a football field without regard to what anyone thought."
Others, however, are commiserating with the star athlete, saying people often think they're wearing eyeliner when they simply have glorious natural lashes. For example, Reddit user Henne_BadB---h_Weed said: "I have thick, long eyelashes too and people just think that about me," before Slayer_Of_Anubis chimed in, saying: "I understand, Derek. People ask me the same thing all the time."
It seems like we all may owe Derek an apology for assuming he was wearing eye makeup and for overlooking his natural beauty. However, if he is actually resorting to eyeliner for intimidation purposes, we totally respect his decision. TBH, if he were to release a line of eye makeup, we wouldn't be totally against buying into it — he looks great.
