A viral video taken from the stands during Sunday’s Eagles win over the Packers has led the Eagles to take action.
The video shows a male Eagles fan verbally assaulting a female Packers fan who is engaged to marry the person who filmed it. The poster asked for help identifying the aggressor, whose language went far over the line of anything resembling good-natured banter between fans at a game.
Longtime NFL reporter Derrick Gunn reports that the Eagles have identified both fans and they have taken action. The Eagles fan will be banned from Lincoln Financial Field in the future and the Packers fan will be receiving gear of her favorite team with apologies from the Eagles for what she had to put up with at their home.
The fallout for the diatribe may extend outside of the stadium. After the offending party and his employer was identified online, a company called BCT Partners also announced that they are investigating his behavior during the game.
UPDATE 1/15 3:10 p.m. ET: The fan in the video, Ryan Caldwell, released a statement regarding his behavior. It appears below.
“While attending an NFL game last Sunday to support my beloved Philadelphia Eagles, an incident occurred that I deeply regret,” the statement said. “What began as banter with two Packers fans sitting near me escalated to something more serious, and I said things that were unacceptable. In the heat of the moment, I chose unforgiving words to address one of the fans, Ms. Ally Keller. I want to sincerely apologize to Ms. Keller for those words, and to my wife, family, and friends, my former employer and colleagues, Packer fans, Eagle fans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the City of Philadelphia, and all who were offended. That said, there are two sides to every story. The video clip circulating online does not reflect the full context of what transpired, and my actions were not without provocation. I will live with this experience, and I am certainly paying a personal price. For those who don’t know me, this incident does not reflect my values or the respect I have for others and is not indicative of the person I am.”
