History Main / Nepotism

* Nearly every booker in the history of professional wrestling is guilty of this, at least to ''some'' degree. When Wrestling/DustyRhodes became booker of Wrestling/{{WCW}} back in the early nineties, his son Dustin (aka Wrestling/{{Goldust}}) got pushed to the moon, but he at least ''had'' talent -- Erik Watts, son of Bill Watts, was absolutely terrible but he got pushed at the expense of everyone else. The fans were aware of this and had no issue [[XPacHeat booing Erik out of the arena]].

** TNA owes its very ''existence'' to this trope -- the promotion was born after WCW folded. Jerry Jarrett created it to not only replace WCW but to also put the spotlight on his son, Wrestling/JeffJarrett. Though eventually they lost control of the company to Dixie, and the nepotism became so bad under her rule that even Jeff was sick of it, tried to buy the company back, and when that didn't work, left and started ''another'' promotion.

** This was a common aversion to nepotism used by Roman Emperors. Since the Romans held that adopted children had the same inheritance rights as biological ones, many Emperors decided that it would be easier to find a worthy successor and adopt him into the family than to train a relative into a worthy successor.

* A milder example cropped up in Wrestling/AllEliteWrestling when they hired Dr. Luther, a bona-fide [[RingOldies ring oldie]] who just entered his 50s, on the basis that he's a very old friend of top star Wrestling/ChrisJericho. The general consensus of the fans is that [[AvertedTrope it's hard to say that Luther has]] StillGotIt (unlike Jericho, who's having one of the best runs of his career) and his ring work is considered mediocre at best, but since he's not pushed and hangs around the lower card mostly putting over young up-and-comers it's considered a harmless enough case of Jericho doing a favour for an old friend.

** This also ties in to Wrestling/TripleH and his "Reign of Terror" in the mid-00's, as he just happens to be Stephanie's husband, who just happened to be Head of Creative from roughly 2002 to sometime in the mid 2010s. Triple H was able to parlay said marriage into becoming "Content Director" (in other words, booker) himself in 2022 when Vince was (temporarily) ousted from the company, and was retained in that position when WWE was sold to the parent company of UsefulNotes/{{UFC}} in 2023.

** In Recap/TheSimpsonsS8E6AMilhouseDivided , this is heavily implied to be the only reason why Kirk wasn't fired from the cracker factory, as despite his incompetence by turning one of the leading cracker companies in town into one of the worst, he was still married to Luann. However, once he learns about his daughter divorcing him, Luann's father quickly fires him.

* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12748842/1/It-s-the-End-of-the-World-as-We-Know-It-And-I-Feel-Fine It's the End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine)]]'', a Literature/HarryPotter / Cthulhu Mythos story, has Lily Potter as a preferred form of Nyarlathotep, having been freed by Harry from her prison in the Dursleys' attic. As a bit of trolling, she makes her son her [[MouthOfSauron Herald]]. After making a deal with Daphne Greengrass, then revealing who he is, she asks how he became Nyarlathotep's herald.

* ''WebVideo/AutoTuneTheNews'': STRICTLY disallowed in [[TheBigEasy New Orleans.]] Except for family members. And sexy turtles.
* A [[http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/311966/lifestyle/reviews/movie-review-nepotism-is-real-after-earth-is-a-choice frequent]] [[http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/06/02/will-smith-and-after-earth-have-dismal-opening/?_r=0 theme]] in online reviews of ''Film/AfterEarth'' was pointing out that even if this ''didn't'' occur during production of the film, there's enough about this film that makes people think of nepotism that filmgoers were turned off by it.
* According to WebVideo/ToddInTheShadows, this the only reason certain artists, including the aforementioned Willow and Jaden Smith, Rockwell, LMFAO, and Hot Chelle Rae have careers. It's turned into something of a RunningGag in his reviews with him loudly declaring "NEPOTISM!"

* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'':
** In one episode, Mr. Krabs gives his daughter Pearl control of the restaurant. She promptly flips the place upside-down and changes the target demographic to vegetarian teenagers, much to [=SpongeBob's=] dismay. She was actually making horrible business choices so that her dad would take the restaurant back as she didn't want to run the place.
** Squidward {{lampshaded}} this trope when introducing Pearl at the Krusty Krab's talent show. Patrick found it hilarious.
** In another episode, [=SpongeBob=] vouches for his incompetent cousin Stanley Squarepants as a good worker to get him a job. Mr. Krabs later says something to the effect of "You'd better not have talked me into hiring him just because you're related. Why, if that was the case I'd have hired my three nephews." Cue [[{{Nephewism}} three smaller versions of Krabs]] in the room.

* One might think this is how Sterling WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} keeps his job, the abuse [[MyBelovedSmother Malory]] heaps on him notwithstanding. It's quickly revealed though that's he's a BunnyEarsLawyer when it comes to secret agent work.
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TheFlintstones'' where Barney started working at the quarry, Mr. Slate found out Barney is his nephew and promoted him just because of that.
* The Mayor in the ''WesternAnimation/PoundPuppies2010'' series tends to do this regarding civil service positions. [=McLeish=] is only head of Shelter 17 because he's the Mayor's brother-in-law.
* ''WesternAnimation/SkeletonWarriors'': When Grimskull's betrayal is publicly revealed, his brother's refusal to have him executed is perceived as this by the people.
* Brad Caslor's 1985 short animated film ''Get A Job'' ends with [[spoiler:Bob, the main character, receiving a telephone call where he is informed by a prospective employer that his job application was successful and he starts tomorrow. Bob ends the call with "Bye dad"!]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MoralOrel'' episode "School Pageant" the only reason Junior Christein was cast as Jesus in 'Crooning Jesus' was that he was the nephew of a big-shot Broadway producer that Mr. Armature wanted to suck up to. It didn't work out so well: the town had expected Orel Puppington to get the role, and so were bored throughout the play, and Orel's solo as Judas ("I Hate You Jesus") was the only thing people remembered about it.
* The ''WesternAnimation/AugieDoggieAndDoggieDaddy'' cartoon "Talk It Up, Pup" posits that since Doggie Daddy was umpiring a little league baseball game Augie was in and was at bat at the time, that Doggie Daddy shouldn't have called him out on strikes. Augie gives Doggie Daddy the silent treatment for 24 hours, [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality which he's portrayed as deserving]].

* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' episode "The Saddle Row Review", when Rarity is about to open her new shop in Manehatten, the landlord, Mr. Stripes, forces Rarity to hire his daughter, Plaid Stripes, under the threat of raising her rent.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug'' episode "Silencer", it's revealed that [[TeenIdol XY]] is the son of music producer [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Bob Roth]], who's willing to do anything to help his son stay popular...including [[PlagiarismInFiction hosting a phony music video contest and stealing the winning video for him to use]], which kicks off the episode's plot.
* ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman'''s agent, Princess Carolyn, has her intern replaced by Mr. Witherspoon's son, Charlie. He's later promoted [[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext after catching a hot bagel for his father]], and by season 3, [[spoiler: he's taken over the company after his father dies of a stroke]].
* Mentioned offhand in ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerbStarWars'': at one point during the "In the Empire" musical number, Candace goes into a tirade about how she's stuck buying Darth Vader's socks while Gladys in accounting got promoted to commander because she's related to a midlevel Darth, despite not knowing how to even hold a blaster.

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* In the ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth'' manga, Randolph Miller, director of the Seselagi Art Museum, hires his niece Monet Kreskin because she needs a job after graduating college, even though she knows nothing about art. [[spoiler:It's actually in large part ''because'' she knows nothing about art, and won't be able to tell that he sold the painting "Officers" to pay the museum's debts, replacing it with a fake]].

* In ''Magazine/{{MAD}}''

** During a [[http://www.madamandeve.co.za/cartoons/me001355.jpg morality training class,]] one student admitted he couldn't decide between awarding a government contract to his brother's construction company or his uncle's construction company.

* ''Fanfic/AllAmericanGirlShinzakura'': Celestia, while trying to help her niece DJ reconnect with her biological family and her Equestrian heritage, recruits her husband to a high-profile military posting and offers her brother the previously vacant position of Princess' Hoof (ie, [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire King's]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Hand]]). When pressed, she admits to playing nepotism, though not entirely for DJ's sake -- she's also trying to combat government infiltration by a group of pony supremacists called the Purehooves.

--> '''Milo:''' (Talking about how the resistance base was built) We had a lot of help. Andrew is not the perfect engineer, but he's a good designer.
-->'''Sonic:''' Why weren't you made Chief then?\\

* This shows up many times in ''FanFic/FirstTrySeries'':

* Brought up in ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus'': In ''Anime/PokemonJourneysTheSeries'', the advertisements claimed Chloe works for her father...[[InformedAttribute but she never does anything for him at all and sits in the sidelines.]] When Gloria asks why dear old dad doesn't let Chloe do the same work Ash and Goh do, he points out that it would only be seen as nepotism and presumably draw more ire from her classmates who already hate her for what they see is her living a "privileged" life.

---> '''Harry''': I ended up the Crawling Chaos's emissary much the same way as anyone gets anywhere in Magical England. Nepotism.
---> '''Lily''': Oh, that's a good one, dear! Doubly so because it's true.

* Literature/HarryPotter fic ''Fanfic/{{Returning}}'' has Rose Weasley jokingly suggest this as an explanation for why James and Dominique made the Gryffindor Quidditch team, captained by Dominique's sister Victoire. The team is just under half Weasleys, not counting James Sirius Potter.

---> '''Harry:''' Fair enough. I guess we both have good connections.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': Early in Season 2, Padmé Amidala introduces a proposal to the Galactic Senate to reinstate the rank of Supreme Commander[[note]]The head of the entire Republic military.[[/note]] and appoint a military officer to replace Chancellor Palpatine as the commander-in-chief so that the Republic can better direct its war effort against the Imperium of Man without continuing to give Palpatine more emergency powers or being hindered by senatorial obstruction. The person that she selects and successfully gets voted to be given this position is none other than Anakin Skywalker, Padmé's secret Jedi husband and the father of her unborn children.

* ''WesternAnimation/TopCatTheMovie'': Lou Strickland has no experience in the police but becomes the new Chief of Police after his father-in-law's retirement. [[spoiler:It's eventually revealed that Strickland was given the position by a robot posing as the former Chief, who doesn't even have a daughter]].

* Played for drama in ''Film/{{Casino}}''; Sam Rothstein is forced to hire an incompetent idiot in a cushy job because he's the brother-in-law of a powerful local official. Rothstein finally gets sick of the guy's incompetence and justifiably fires him. The brother-in-law amiably agrees that the guy's an idiot, and is willing to compromise on his relative holding a less responsible position, but Rothstein is such a perfectionist he refuses. This results in the official causing trouble for him later on.

* In ''{{Film/Nativity}}'', Desmond Poppy is hired as an unqualified teaching assistant at St. Bernadette's School because the Headteacher Pat Bevan just happens to be his Aunt.

* A woman goes to a law firm and says "I got fired from my job, and replaced by the CEO's son, a complete idiot who spends the day harassing female employees and making the others do his work. Can you help me?" "Certainly, ma'am. The law firm of [[TheLawFirmOfPunPunAndWordplay Harris, Harris, Harris, Harris, Harris & Sons]] has [[HypocriticalHumor a great deal of experience with nepotism.]]"

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''

** Similarly, when [[spoiler: Tae Soo-mi]] offers [[spoiler: Young-woo]] a job at Taesan while not knowing their familial connection, the latter declines as she would face other accusations of nepotism if it came out that they are mother and daughter.

* ''Series/TheSopranos''.

* ''Series/{{ER}}'': In the show's later seasons, Dr. Simon Brenner joins the staff and is soon revealed to be the nephew of former Chief of Staff Donald Anspaugh, making him both an example of this and {{Nephewism}}. (What's more, nepotism is from the Greek word for. . . nephew). However, despite his {{Jerkass}} ways, he never throws his familial connections around and is an excellent physician.
* Series/PunkyBrewster has a part-time job as a server at her foster father's restaurant Punky's Place during seasons three and four of her eponymous sitcom.
* ''Series/{{Veep}}'' eventually reveals how the incompetent, unlikable Jonah Ryan got a job in the White House: His uncle basically controls all the politics in New Hampshire.
* ''Series/TheWheelOfTime2021'': Liandrin accused Siuan of favoring Moiraine as she'd been with the Blue Ajah alongside her before being raised to Amyrlin. [[spoiler:This is doubtless why they keep the fact they're lovers a secret, since it would only make this worse.]]

* The French satirical show ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo'' had a field day mocking President Nicolas Sarkozy's various attempts at putting his son Jean in posts of high responsibility.

* In ''Theatre/CesareIlCreatoreCheHaDistrutto'', it's just taken for granted that this is how the church works in the early Renaissance. Your father got the pope to make your a cardinal before you're 20? Good -- use it to try to make Italy a better place, whatever that means to you. A good bit of the story involves Cesare trying to get Giovanni de'Medici to grow some depth, stop being the golden boy who churns out perfectly pre-packaged answers in class, and use his unique position for good.
* The antagonist of ''Theatre/HowToSucceedInBusinessWithoutReallyTrying'' is the boss's nephew.
* In the Musical ''Theatre/ANewBrain'', while Gordon is in the hospital, his boss keeps threatening to replace him with the boss's son.
* In ''Theatre/CityOfAngels'', Buddy Fidler employs his nephew as a gofer. No wonder he refers to the movie industry as a "business of refuse and nephews."
* Axel, the main character of ''Theatre/DontDrinkTheWater'', is embarrassingly incompetent at his job and only has it because his dad is the boss. He really is a good guy, he's just in the wrong career.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'', Wheatley accuses a work foreman robot of having done this by passing up Wheatley for a promotion in lieu of... an exact copy of himself.
* Claude C. Kenny, protagonist of ''VideoGame/StarOceanTheSecondStory'', feels pressure from this, as revealed in flashbacks. Some cadets believe that Claude only got to his position because of his father Ronyx Kenny, a high ranking member of TheFederation and one of the heroes of ''VideoGame/StarOcean1''.
* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'':
** General Lee Oliver of the NCR supposedly got his position through cronyism via his close ties to President Kimball. Naturally, he is an [[GeneralFailure inept commander]] who is [[GloryHound more concerned with his own reputation than the lives of his men.]]
** Henry Jamison, the son of a wealthy NCR family, gets the job of running the New Vegas branch of the Crimson Caravan despite being woefully unprepared for the job, and his family ties mean that he can't be fired, so Alice [=McLafferty=] tasks the player with convincing Henry to quit. In an interesting twist on this trope, it's revealed that his family didn't arrange for his job out of charity for a relative, but to get him out of the way.
* ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 4}}'' introduces Arthur Maxson, [[CallBack last seen as]] a child in ''{{VideoGame/Fallout 3}}'', the leader of the Commonwealth Brotherhood of Steel, who took over as leader of the Brotherhood when he was still an adolescent. It's strongly implied he only got the position because of his lineage since the Maxsons founded the Brotherhood. He was appointed by the Lost Hills Elders and actually wields less power than them and is implied to be taking orders from them, strongly implying he's actually a PuppetKing.
** In the Institute storyline, the leader of the Institute "Father" eventually promotes [[spoiler:the player character]] as his heir despite the fact that they're potentially not all that qualified due to claiming that they have the capacity for actual leadership rather than simply scientific ability, though the fact that [[spoiler:they are actually his biological parent]] is certainly a major motivation.

* It's implied in the ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft}}'' fluff that General Edmund Duke only got to be in command because the Dukes are one of the Old Families who have tremendous influence on the Confederate government. He himself is a clear example of GeneralFailure (his one great victory in the game is against ''his own people'' since he knows all about them).
* In ''VideoGame/SuperLesbianAnimalRPG'', Javis puts his four "sons" into power as commanding officers of the operation to take over the planet Reverie, despite them being magically created from his life essence only days prior. He proceeds to [[LampshadeHanging lampshade]] this.
-->'''Javis''': Some may accuse me of nepotism for putting my four sons in charge, especially when they're mere days old. To that, I say: I do not care!

* The final boss of ''VideoGame/Yakuza5'', [[spoiler: Aizawa]], makes the valid point that Daigo only got to be Chairman of the Tojo Clan because he was born into a high ranking, well connected family and was personally supported by Kiryu, a previous Chairman who Daigo had been close with since he was a child. However, this is also [[{{Hypocrite}} pretty rich]] coming from [[spoiler: Aizawa, as his whole involvement in the plot stems from his father, the Chairman of the Omi Alliance, trying to accumulate more power to pass to his son upon his impending death, despite Aizawa not being anything special on his own merit.]]
* ''VideoGame/Disgaea4'': It's all but stated this is how Emizel, son of President Hugo, got his position as the head of the Abaddon assassination task squad. He tries using his father's name and position as a way to gain power and recognition, only for Valvatorez and Fenrich to not only laugh it off, but then defeat him multiple times. After joining the party, Valvatorez eventually gives Emizel a challenge -- to step out of his father's shadow and make a name for himself, a task he succeeds at by the end of the game.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemEngage'': Citrinne, a relative of Brodia's royal family, sometimes fears that she's not up to to her job as her cousin Prince Alcryst's retainer, since she got her position through family connections. As such, her supports with Chloe show that she pushes herself hard in her training in order to be strong enough to protect Alcryst. She also bonds with her fellow retainer Lapis over how each feels as though something is holding them back- for Lapis, it's her humbler origins, while for Citrinne, it's her lack of strength.
* In ''VideoGame/TotalWarWarhammer'', the High Elf faction has Influence as a secondary resource, representing espionage, backdoor dealings, and the like. Whenever they recruit lords or heroes they can choose to expend Influence to get characters with positive starting traits, or choose not to, in which case they get characters with negative traits like "Indolent" or "Wasteful". In other words, the corrupt High Elf court will invariably pick well-connected incompetents unless the player engages in their own influence-peddling to ensure capable candidates are selected.

* ''Fanfic/AlysanneLadyOfWinterfell'': Myribeth, the leader of the Sunflowers acting troupe, tries to defy it so furiously that she goes straight to the opposite extreme. In order to make sure that she doesn't appear to be coddling or favoring her adopted nephew Brenna, she's constantly yelling at and belittling him at the rehearsals and claiming that he can do nothing right.

* In ''Fanfic/AllAmericanGirlShinzakura'', Celestia, while trying to help her niece DJ reconnect with her biological family and her Equestrian heritage, recruits her husband to a high-profile military posting and offers her brother the previously vacant position of Princess' Hoof (ie, [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire King's]] [[Series/GameOfThrones Hand]]). When pressed, she admits to playing nepotism, though not entirely for DJ's sake -- she's also trying to combat government infiltration by a group of pony supremacists called the Purehooves.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{SpongeBob SquarePants}}''

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''

* As with so many other things in wrestling, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon is the ''king'' of this trope. Not only did he make himself one of the WWE's most prominent villains during the Attitude Era[[note]] It should be noted, however, that Vince very reluctantly started presenting himself as a heel and only did so after fans started booing him following the Wrestling/MontrealScrewjob. Generally, it was late in the Attitude Era when nearly everything revolved around Vince and his kids.[[/note]], but his children [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] and [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] have also had prominent roles as onscreen characters. Like Dusty and Dustin Rhodes above, it's mitigated somewhat by Vince and his kids having genuine charisma and skill at drawing heel heat, and have even wrestled decent matches themselves. It also doesn't hurt that they've had multiple occasions of being {{Butt Monkey}}s who suffer from LaserGuidedKarma. However, it ''did'' manage to infamously ruin Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle when the angle started with Shane buying WCW out from under Vince and Stephanie buying out ECW and the two children teaming up to take on their father, turning the angle from the "WWF vs WCW (and ECW)" story that everyone wanted to see into yet another [="McMahon=] vs [=McMahon"=] affair.

* As with so many other things in wrestling, Wrestling/VinceMcMahon is the ''king'' of this trope. Not only did he make himself one of the WWE's most prominent villains during the Attitude Era, but his children [[Wrestling/ShaneMcMahon Shane]] and [[Wrestling/StephanieMcMahon Stephanie]] have also had prominent roles as onscreen characters. Like Dusty and Dustin Rhodes above, it's mitigated somewhat by Vince and his kids having genuine charisma and skill at drawing heel heat, and have even wrestled decent matches themselves. It also doesn't hurt that they've had multiple occasions of being {{Butt Monkey}}s who suffer from LaserGuidedKarma. However, it ''did'' manage to infamously ruin Wrestling/TheInvasionAngle when the angle started with Shane buying WCW out from under Vince and Stephanie buying out ECW and the two children teaming up to take on their father, turning the angle from the "WWF vs WCW (and ECW)" story that everyone wanted to see into yet another [="McMahon=] vs [=McMahon"=] affair.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Almost every hereditary government and some republics. In most cases, its the child who has the heaviest bond with their ruling parent, rather than their ability to govern or their care for their people, that wins among the candidates.
* In 2017, Lance Stroll - son of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll - made his UsefulNotes/FormulaOne debut with Williams, thanks partly to his father's cash (though a ''spectacular'' season in Formula 3 also helped). In mid-2018, Lawrence led a consortium that purchased the bankrupt Force India team and rebranded it as Racing Point. Guess which team Lance has driver for ever since? What cements it as this trope is that, save for a few flashes of brilliance (such as a pole position in treacherous conditions at the 2020 Turkish Grand Prix), Lance has consistently been outshone by his teammates. As of 2023, it's widely perceived that he's failed to live up to his potential, and that the only reason he still has a race seat is that his dad owns the team.
* It's been suggested that the phrase "Bob's your uncle!" is supposedly a reference to British Prime Minister Robert "Bob" Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury's appointment of his nephew UsefulNotes/ArthurBalfour to the position of Chief Secretary for Ireland in 1887, and supposedly for securing Balfour's own rise to the post of Prime Minister. Really though, Balfour had been serving as his uncle's right-hand man for years before becoming PM.
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Implied to be why the head of the bank insists they should give more loans to Vector, who is his son.

* ''[[Fanfic/StarWarsVsWarhammer40K Star Wars vs Warhammer 40K]]'': Early in Season 2, Padmé Amidala introduces a proposal to the Galactic Senate to reinstate the rank of Supreme Commander[[note]]The head of the entire Republic military.[[/note]] and appoint a military officer to replace Chancellor Palpatine as the Republic's commander-in-chief so that the Republic can better direct its war effort against the Imperium of Man without continuing to give Palpatine more emergency powers or being hindered by senatorial obstruction. The person that she selects and successfully gets voted to be given this position is none other than Anakin Skywalker, Padmé's secret Jedi husband and the father of her unborn children.

* The crew of the ''[[Film/{{Spaceballs}} Spaceball One]]'' is largely composed of assholes. Named [[WhosOnFirst Asshole]].

* {{Subverted}} in ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13545968/1/Wilhuff-Tarkin-Hero-of-the-Rebellion Wilhuff Tarkin, Hero of the Rebellion]]'' with Admiral Motti: while he may be a relative of Grand Moff Tarkin,[[note]]Specifically he's his wife's cousin[[/note]] one of the highest leaders of the Empire, he earned his rank and post at a relative young age through success in battle against the Separatists Holdouts and a Tof incursion, and the only help he ever got from Tarkin was command of a gunship before a battle during the Clone Wars where they were short on officers and ''someone else vouched for him''.