A combatant in a brawl that broke out in the stands during a Jaguars-Steelers game claims he threw the first punch due to a racial slur.
Video of the fight, which came during during the fourth quarter of the Steelers’ 16-15 preseason win at TIAA Bank Field in Jacksonville on Saturday, quickly went viral on social media.
“It was the first time in my entire life that I struck somebody first,” a man, purporting to be in the middle of the fight, wrote in a since-deleted Facebook post under the name Wally Wood. “I wish I could have even thicker skin than I already have. The environment we live in, the amount of hate that is out there is becoming reminiscent of the 50s and 60s.”
Wood claims he was called a “dumb arab n—-r” in his post, per the Daily Mail, writing the incident began with him asking members of another group to leave a seat he had paid for.
“These guys continuously kept sitting in the seat,” he wrote. “I continuously kept asking nicely for at least 2 hours for them to please leave the seat.”
The situation escalated with the slur, leading to a flurry of punches and the involvement of the Jacksonville Sheriff’s office.
According to Wood’s post, the other fans were permanently banned from TIAA Bank Field.
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