NEW YORK, April 2 — Tom Brady broke the internet with his first-ever tweet.

The New England Patriots quarterback announced his “retirement” on Twitter yesterday, an April Fools’ Day prank that immediately went viral.

“I’m retiring. In my spare time, I’ll be tweeting,” Brady posted in the first tweet sent from his official account (@TomBrady).

His second tweet, delivered about an hour later, let relieved Patriots fans know he was goofing around. “Was this a bad joke?” Brady wrote.

The six-time Super Bowl champion gained more than 100,000 followers on the social-media site within two hours of his original post.

Brady’s joke drew responses from the sports world and even from Twitter’s official Twitter account. His wideout, Julian Edelman, posted a GIF captioned, “Don’t You Dare.”

Brady, who turns 42 in August, has addressed the subject of retirement before, saying he hopes to play until he is 45. — Reuters