A Philadelphia Eagles fan who continually berated a Green Bay Packers fan in the stands of the Eagles' wildcard game against the Packers has been permanently banned from Lincoln Financial Field.
The video, which was captured on a smartphone and posted to social media, shows a man dressed in Eagles apparel repeatedly verbally abusing a woman in front of him. A man who appears to have accompanied the woman to the game asks the Eagles fan to stop, but he continues taunting them.
A Philadelphia Eagles fan who continually berated a Green Bay Packers fan in the stands of the Eagles' wildcard game against the Packers has been permanently banned from Lincoln Financial Field.
The video, which was captured on a smartphone and posted to social media, shows a man dressed in Eagles apparel repeatedly verbally abusing a woman in front of him. A man who appears to have accompanied the woman to the game asks the Eagles fan to stop, but he continues taunting them.
The "individual will not be permitted to attend any future events at Lincoln Financial Field," a source familiar with the matter said.
NBC Philadelphia reported that the woman in the video is Ally Keller, and she attended the game with Alex Basara, her fiancé.
“He started out with playful jabs at first or kind of just saying things to us right when we sat down,” Basara told NBC Philadelphia. “I chatted with him for a bit. But then he just kept saying some of the same things. Continued through the entire game. It got worse and worse as the game went on. We were surrounded by Eagles fans. We were getting all the attention.”
Keller explained that the situation just continued to escalate throughout the game.
“And then he just said, ‘Actually, you’re not even good-looking enough to be talking to me,’” Keller said. “And then I said, you know, ‘What does that mean?’ And he said, ‘You know what that means.’ And so I said, ‘Have you looked in the mirror yourself?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, but I’m a man. I’m allowed to be ugly. You’re a woman.’”
Basara said that recording the incident is what ended up de-escalating it, but Keller said the atmosphere at the game was so hostile that she held back saying too much in response to the Eagles fan.
"If it did turn into an altercation or something physical, all they see is me messing with an Eagles fan, and then I become the target," she said. "And then what happens with my fiancé at that time in that scenario? It’s a dangerous situation.”
Online sleuths connected the Eagles fan to his employer, a New Jersey management consulting firm called BCT Partners.
"As an organization that has always stood for inclusivity, the conduct displayed was completely unacceptable and stands in direct opposition to our company values," BCT Partners said in a statement Monday. "We have already begun a full investigation as an internal personnel matter to determine what actions will be taken."
On Tuesday BCT said the man had been terminated.
"We condemn our former employee's conduct in the strongest possible terms," it said in a statement. "This individual's conduct and language were vile, disgusting, unacceptable, and horrific and have no place in our workplace and society."
