“Retirement from football” is not such a funny line when the context involves a six-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback by the name of Tom Brady.

But on Monday, Brady — who is 41 — said on Twitter that he was “retiring” from the game at which he’s excelled for so long.

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Ah, but Monday is April Fools’ Day.

And here’s what happened.

People retweeted Brady’s apparent joke more than 10,000 times — and gave it more than 20,000 likes in its first hour alone.

It was Brady’s first-ever tweet, as Fox News pointed out; he joined the social media platform last month.

Roughly an hour later, Brady followed up his first tweet with this line: “Was this a bad joke?”

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Fresh off another Super Bowl victory this past season, Brady gave some hints last summer that he planned to play football “only” until the age of 45, according to NFL.com and as Fox News reported.

Related: New England Patriots’ Super Bowl Victory Is Historic : The Dynasty Continues

Yet heading into his 20th season, it doesn’t appear he would have Rob Gronkowski as a target.

Gronkowski said last month he’ll be leaving the NFL after nine seasons.

Brady commented on the NFL’s Instagram post “showing that Gronkowski had 78 receiving touchdowns from him,” noted Fox News.

“I hope 78 isn’t the final number,” he wrote, according to NFL reporter Dov Kleiman.