A former coworker destroyed Philadelphia Eagles fan Ryan Caldwell, who was filmed verbally abusing Green Bay Packers supporter Ally Keller during Sunday’s Wild Card Round playoff game.
Keller attended the game at Lincoln Financial Field with her fiancé, Packers fan and content creator Alexander Basara. At one point of the game, Basara filmed Ryan Caldwell harassing Keller and using derogatory towards her.
The Eagles later announced that Caldwell has received a lifetime ban from Lincoln Financial Field. Additionally, Caldwell was fired from his job as a project manager for the BCT Partners consulting firm.
Two of Ryan Caldwell’s former coworkers, Lawrence Hibbert and Dr. Randal Pinkett, spoke to TMZ Sports. Hibbert and Pinkett, who co-founded BCT Partners, emphasized that their investigation was “a deliberative process…an expeditious process…a fair process.”
Here’s what Pinkett said on the matter:
“I can’t say enough about how abhorrent the behavior that we observed was and how upset I was in seeing someone who was at the time associated with our company displaying that kind of behavior…
We believe there’s a middle ground that we can recover from mistakes, we can learn and we can grow. We believe that Mr. Caldwell can learn and grow, but we believe that our society can also learn and grow.”
And here are Hibbert’s comments on the incident:
“It hurts (the backlash the company received). But we also believe that we can stand on our track record, and we wanted to take these opportunities to affirm the fact that we can still, even in the difficult times, we’re going to operate on our value system, doing what we believe is right.”
Caldwell has since broken his silence on the incident. He offered an apology to Keller but claims that his “actions were not without provocation” and that the viral video clip didn’t “reflect the full context.”
The Eagles went on to defeat the Packers 22-10 for their first playoff win since the 2022 NFC Championship Game. They’ll host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday with a trip to the conference title game on the line.
Ryan Caldwell Should Have Thought Before He Talked
Regardless of how much Caldwell was provoked, even if he was provoked at all, there is no excuse for verbally abusing a fan the way he did. He also should have thought about the possible consequences in that moment with Basara filming him, knowing that he was about to be exposed for his actions.
A sporting venue should be a safe space for all fans. The threatening language and gestures Caldwell used isn’t acceptable whatsoever, and there’s a lot of self-reflection required on his end.
