Dianna Russini walked back into the NFL media spotlight this week, and the internet had been warming up for the entire time she was away from the spotlight. The former NFL insider posted that she had spotted the jokes aimed at her, and she even thanked the guest who helped bring them up.

“I’ve seen all the memes and comments…and some of you guys are really funny. Thanks to @DamonAmendo for helping us break an audience record today!” Russini wrote on X.

The occasion was the debut of The Russini Report, her new weekly show with offshore sportsbook BetUS, on a reportedly multiyear deal. It marked her first big return to sports media after she resigned from The Athletic in April, foll

That exit followed photos of Russini with Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel at an Arizona resort. Russini has since said the coverage of her relationship with Vrabel was full of lies, though she has not spelled out which parts.

So the memes arrived fast.

“A lot of memes out there, D. Thank you for reminding me,” she said on her new show, to her first guest, Damon Amendolora. “I will say, though, I do think the AI version of me is like an L.A. 10. That is the way I want to look; my nose is small, my forehead only looks three fingers. I’m like, ‘This is what I want to look like.’”

Radio host Damon Amendolara, her first guest, started by asking whether she had seen any good ones lately. His favorite was the one involving her in a fake Tiny Desk concert, and he said the big reveal of her on the saxophone was the best.

Russini seemed to momentarily be upset recalling all the backlash against her, saying, “It was miserable.” But she did say that there was some truth to that saxophone joke, because she knows how to play the instrument in reality.

The launch itself was a different story. The episode was scheduled for noon ET and did not appear until a long time later. Viewers waited on a looping clip while the show’s account said a record-breaking audience had broken the stream. It has not been confirmed what the actual numbers are.

Once it got going, the hour-long episode mostly stuck to football. Russini covered the NFL trade deadline, and Lamar Jackson’s contract status with Amendolara, Hall of Fame coach Bill Parcells, and Philadelphia radio host Spike Eskin.

Russini also told People that the show is about everything she knows about what’s going on in the NFL, plus her opinions. That second part matters to her.

She said players had been texting and calling her to say it was time to get back to work.

Vrabel and Russini have had to move on from the controversy that got too big to handle at one point in time, after another set of photos of the pair were released. Vrabel said at the time he was focusing on his family. Russini had to step away from The Athletic, which later conducted an internal investigation.

According to Mike Semel, the publication’s editorial director for standards and editorial guidelines, Russini and Vrabel’s relationship, romantic or not, was in “clear violation” of The Athletic’s standards.

Amendolara explained his decision to appear in a video on his YouTube channel, via Awful Announcing. He said Russini is a close friend, and he wanted to be there for her after a tough year. They met when she covered Washington for the NFL and he worked at CBS Sports Radio.

He also went after the industry for how it reacted, and he did not hold back.

“I just think our industry went crazy and got completely topsy-turvy by demanding the big J by not doing any of the big J things.”

Russini has another project in the works as well. She is teaming up with Jon “Stugotz” Weiner on a podcast called Nobody’s Safe.

For now, her comeback looks like a mix of memes, glitches, and curiosity. No audience figures have been reported yet, and the next episode will be the real test.