The Detroit Lions have been one of the consistently underperforming NFL teams of the 21st century. But in 2017, they’ve already scored a huge victory when, after seeing a fan post a racist video online, they declared he is no longer welcome at Ford Field.
According to the Detroit News, a season ticket holder posted to Snapchat a video of two black fans who, much like a number of protesting NFL players, sat during the national anthem last Sunday.
Here is what the former season ticket holder allegedly posted.
In an interview with WXYZ-TV in Detroit, Stacey Graham, the woman seen in the posting, said she sits for the national anthem because she said the third verse of the song, which is not sung during sporting events, advocates the killing of slaves. The verse, in part, reads:
No refuge could save the hireling and slave
From the terror of flight or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O’er the land of the free and the home of the brave.
The former season ticket holder reportedly claimed on social media that he didn’t post the pictures, writing, via Fox 2 Detroit, that “I don’t know where that even came from.” But reportedly he later admitted on Facebook that he had done so.
The team policy states that a season ticket holder’s ‘seats can be revoked for inappropriate behavior toward others or for using foul or abusive language.
“We do have a fan behavior standard, a code of standards, and I think, without question, our organization followed up, found out who the individual was and he no longer has season tickets in our stadium,” Lions coach Jim Caldwell said, via the Detroit News. “I think it was handled appropriately, and those things happen sometimes.”
H/T CBSSports.com
