No matter how well Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton has played this year and no matter that his NFL team is still undefeated (well, sort of), Newton has decided he will not allow any dissension in his house.
That apparently is why Newton—who is an adult, mind you—took the banner from a family of Green Bay Packers fans who were in Charlotte to watch Sunday’s game between the two squads and disposed of it without their permission.
Here's the banner Cam Newton ripped down before the game pic.twitter.com/j4P8dEqz5c
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) November 9, 2015
See that family of people in the camouflaged hats? Yeah, one of them is an Army veteran from Fayetteville, North Carolina, and he didn’t appreciate Newton—ho also is wearing camo, but is decidedly not an Army vet—doing this.
And here's Cam walking away with the banner after ripping it down (via @connorcase15) pic.twitter.com/N0HpE2Us9G
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) November 9, 2015
“We thought it was a joke at first, but he never came back with the banner,” Mike Dobs, the one whose sign (which he said cost $500 to make) was ripped away, told the Charlotte Observer. “That’s when I went to security and told them he stole it. The first officer I talked to just laughed.”
Said Newton: “I was passing, the sign was dangling. Either somebody was going to have to take it off or I’d take it off. And it’s no disrespect to nobody, it’s more of a respect to the stadium.”
Yes, the stadium—which isn’t actually alive, mind you—deserves more respect than the Army vet who happens to root for another team. Later, the Panthers said they had reached out to Dobs and would replace the banner.
But proving that injecting a little humor is always welcome into what’s basically a silly story, a number of Newton’s teammates jumped to his defense on Twitter on Monday. And all them said it was his own fault that the banner was confiscated.
https://twitter.com/ryankalil/status/663729537251975170
https://twitter.com/miketolbert35/status/663734828542595072
Sorry bud for telling you to rip that banner down yesterday! Didn't realize people would have a problem! @CameronNewton
— DA (@DAnderson314) November 9, 2015
Keeping it 💯 it may have been my fault @CameronNewton took that dudes sign I came in the locker room telling everyone how mad I was about it
— Roman Harper (@Harp41) November 9, 2015
Guess I shouldn't have told @CameronNewton I felt like ripping the banner down when I came out for warm ups! It was ugly tho
— Bené Benwikere (@Benwik21) November 9, 2015
Funny that all of these tweets were posted in a two-hour span. It’s almost seems like they had it planned out and everything.
H/T Deadspin | Photo via Keith Allison/Flickr (CC BY SA 2.0)