Anti-Trump NFL Owner Under Fire After Video Catches Him Seemingly Throwing Something at Fans
Editor’s Note: Our readers responded strongly to this story when it originally ran; we’re reposting it here in case you missed it.
The Carolina Panthers have not had a good year.
Sitting at 2-14 with one game left to play on Dec. 31, the team had already “clinched” the worst record of the 2023 NFL season.
Compounding matters, whereas most teams can typically look forward to a high draft pick following such an abysmal season, the Panthers do not have their own first-round pick this year because it was used to acquire quarterback Bryce Young — this year’s top overall rookie selection — via a trade with the Chicago Bears.
Compounding matters further, unlike some of his fellow rookie quarterbacks, Young has looked underwhelming in his inaugural NFL campaign, though it’s still far too early to make any sort of long-term judgment on the 22-year-old signal caller.
All of those frustrations appeared to reach a boiling point for team owner David Tepper on Dec. 31 when a viral video captured during the team’s 26-0 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars appeared to show the angry owner tossing a drink at a Jags fan.
You can see the clip, which swiftly began spreading on social media, for yourself below:
Not great: #Panthers owner David Tepper appears to have spilled his drink on a #Jaguars fan during today’s frustrating 26-0 loss.
(📽️ @Kahuna_Med)pic.twitter.com/g9rNiBogsThttps://t.co/g9rNiBogsT
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) December 31, 2023
Tepper, who was in a box suite at Everbank Stadium in Jacksonville, Florida, was seen quickly whipping a plastic cup in the direction of jeering fans.
It’s unknown what was in the cup, if anything, or if it reached a fan.
Per ESPN, the NFL said it was “aware” of the video but had “no further comment.”
Meanwhile, a Panthers representative declined to comment on the matter, according to NBC News.
While the league and the team might not have much to say at the moment, Tepper’s critics came out loudly on social media.
“David Tepper paid $40 million to the ex-wife of his former boss for his Hamptons house and then tore it down to build a mansion twice as big,” sports and entrepreneurial pundit Joe Pompliano said in a post on X. “He also once said that when a waiter is rude to him, he thinks ‘I could just buy this place and fire that guy.’
“This behavior isn’t new.”
Tepper expressed some pride in his aggressive tenor when he boasted to his alma mater about the manner in which he addressed the then-president of the United States.
“The economy’s really good right now, despite different things,” Tepper told a first-year business school student at Carnegie Mellon University in April 2018, when Donald Trump was in the White House, according to Sports Illustrated. “Whether I like the person or not I’m not going to get into that — although I did call him a demented, narcissistic scumbag.
“And if you look up demented, narcissistic scumbag, you’ll see my name calling Trump that. Just Google those three words.”
Googling those three words does yield search results regarding Tepper’s description of Trump, made in October 2016.
Shortly after Tepper purchased the Panthers in 2018, he also attacked the 45th U.S. president for criticizing anthem protests.
After defending players who took a knee in protest during “The Star-Spangled Banner,” the team owner jabbed Trump by saying, “There’s a red-headed guy in D.C. that likes to talk about it, but I don’t want to mention his name.”
The Panthers were scheduled to finish their abysmal season with a home game against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers Jan. 7.
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