NFL Star Threatens To Beat Up Fan, Claims Racial Slur Was Used
Newton’s Third Law of Motion states that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.”
Thursday night in Tennessee, this principle was on display in extremely unfortunate fashion.
For Jacksonville Jaguars running back Leonard Fournette, the action was confronting a fan from the sidelines at Nissan Stadium and threatening him with physical violence.
But Fournette’s actions, according to the man himself, were simply the equal and opposite reaction to the fan in question allegedly calling him a racial slur.
TMZ Sports released video of the incident, in which Fournette threatens the fan, saying, “You’re too old for that, I’m gonna beat your ass!” in response to the fan’s allegedly racially tinged heckling.
Two Jaguars staffers then intervened, restraining the running back and trying to haul him to a safe distance, but Fournette continued his tirade from the bench.
“Facts, you’re too old for that,” Fournette continued, jawing at the fan while sitting on the bench. “You’re too old for that. Chill out. I’m not worried about you. You want to come down here? I’ll whoop your ass.”
It was a game the reeling Jaguars lost 30-9 to the Tennessee Titans as a team that came within four points of the Super Bowl in a 24-20 loss to the New England Patriots in the AFC championship game in 2017 dropped to 4-9. Fournette’s on-field performance was a brutal 36 yards on 14 carries.
He had just returned from a suspension he served for getting into a scrap with the Buffalo Bills’ Shaq Lawson, a fight that not only got him ejected but which Fournette couldn’t simply let go as he tried to go after Lawson again in the tunnel.
Fournette posted on social media after that incident, saying that “things got heated in a very important game” and “emotions got the best of me apologize again to you all.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqntC2CFlh8/
Trouble is, apologies ring hollow when you have a history of being easily provoked and popping off.
After all, Fournette got in trouble in college when he and LSU teammate Garrett Brumfield got into a scrap in the parking lot outside Tiger Stadium.
University officials insisted it was just horseplay between teammates, but given everything that’s happened to Fournette since, well … usually when there’s that much smoke around, it’s a dumb question to ask why it’s hot.
While no racial slurs could be heard in the video, Fournette’s teammate, T.J. Yeldon, backed up his claim.
“Did I hear it? Yeah,” Yeldon said. “All the running backs and people on the offensive side were hearing the exchange. They were heckling at us all game, at him and all of us all game.
“All night. All night. All day they was calling us racial slurs, all game.”
Defensive end Calais Campbell reminded everyone that you can’t control what fans do on game day but you can control the way you react.
“That didn’t happen to me, but I’ve seen it happen before,” he said. “It’s sad when you have to deal with that in the midst of a game, but at the same time it sucks. You just have to stay focused on the game at hand and continue to try to push through.
“I didn’t hear anything about it until earlier today. You never want to see that in a game, never. They’re trying to get you out your game. It’s sad in 2018 you have to deal with that, but that’s just how it goes.”
There really are no winners here. Shouting racial slurs at athletes (or at anyone) is vulgar, hateful and unacceptable.
But threatening violence against fans at a sporting event when you should be focused on the game? That’s not exactly a great look either.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
