
Philadelphia Eagles fans celebrate a touchdown catch by wide receiver DeVonta Smith, not pictured, during the first half of an NFL football game against the Atlanta Falcons, Monday, Sep. 16, 2024, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Terrance Williams)
An Eagles fan lost his job after being captured on video hurling vile insults at a female Green Bay Packers fan at the Linc last Sunday. An entire fan base shouldn’t have to answer for his hate-fueled actions.
When the Eagles posted “World’s best fans showed up and showed out” on X following the team’s wild-card playoff victory over the Green Bay Packers last Sunday, they were most definitely not referring to the man who was caught on video harassing female Packers fan Ally Keller in truly vile and misogynistic terms during the game.
That fan’s vulgarity went viral after the woman’s fiancé, Alexander Basara, a podcaster and fellow Packers fan, posted a video of the incident to X, seeking help in identifying the man.
His identity was uncovered thanks to internet sleuths, with multiple media outlets identifying him as Ryan Caldwell. The Eagles have reportedly banned Caldwell from attending any future events at the team’s stadium, Lincoln Financial Field, because of the incident. He’s also now out of a job.
BCT Partners, a New Jersey management consulting firm that specializes in diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, announced that Caldwell had been fired following an investigation into the incident.
Yes, this misogynist worked for a company focused on D.E.I. Guess Caldwell didn’t have a firm grasp on the concept of “learning on the job.”
The incident is another black eye for a fan base that has earned plenty of them over the years. But here’s something the national media at large routinely and conveniently fails to acknowledge when it comes to Philly sports fans, and Eagles fans in particular: an incident such as this, however hate-fueled, does not represent an entire fan base. Not even close. It is a minuscule minority of the 68,000 fans who pack the Linc from September through January behaving really badly.
I’ve been to plenty of Eagles games over the years and have witnessed some pretty unruly behavior — though nothing on this level. I’ve also seen plenty of good behavior, like an adult Eagles fan consoling a crying child in Dallas Cowboys gear after the storied “4th & 1” victory over the Cowboys in 1995. Ahead of Sunday’s playoff game against the Los Angeles Rams, some Eagles fans are urging fellow Birds fans to donate to the California Community Foundation’s wildfire recovery fund (with this very Philly proviso: “We’re still gonna kick the Rams’ asses”).
Another important point that I’ve been thinking about since that video went viral comes from Caldwell’s former employer. In the company’s statement announcing his firing, BCT Partners said:
“…We can condemn the actions without condemning the individual. None of us deserve to be remembered for actions taken on our worst day. We have offered grace and support to our former employee. We hope that he will grow and we all can learn from this deeply disturbing incident. That’s what real inclusion is and does.”
Did Caldwell deserve to lose his job over what he said to Keller and Basara in the video? Keller, naturally, felt threatened by Caldwell, but did her best to ignore his abuse for fear of the situation escalating.
“I didn’t want to turn around and yell at this guy and then have my fiancé get jumped in the crowd,” Keller told WTMJ-TV in Milwaukee. “I was trying to stay calm, but I was pretty fuming at that point.
“It wasn’t about the game either. He was making personal jabs at me. It’s one thing if he’s going, ‘F— the Packers,’ or whatever, but he’s talking about my looks the whole time. It got personal.”
If I ran a company and one of my employees said the things Caldwell said, and made someone feel threatened — regardless of whether or not they were caught on camera for all the world to see — I would likely let them go.
Of course those who don’t feel hateful actions should have consequences will reflexively rail about the “woke mob” and “cancel culture.” But what kind of message would you be sending to your female employees — or to any employee — in retaining someone who holds such views toward them? I can say with some degree of certainty that I’d be out of my current job if I behaved like this. And I’d understand why.
Just as one fan saying hateful things does not represent an entire fanbase, one horrible incident doesn’t have to define Caldwell’s life forevermore. Hopefully the company’s offer of “grace and support” is genuine, and not just something fed to them by a crisis P.R. expert.
Caldwell issued a statement Thursday to Fox-29 in Philadelphia in which he said he “deeply regrets” his actions, though he stopped short of accepting full responsibility.
“The video clip circulating online does not reflect the full context of what transpired, and my actions were not without provocation,” Caldwell said in the statement.
He’d be wise to accept that offer of grace and support, as he has no one to blame for the situation he’s in but himself.
But it appears he may still have a few yards to go to becoming a person of acceptance and compassion.
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