Shaq Thompson has probably seen quite a bit during his nine-year tenure with the Carolina Panthers. But what happened at EverBank Stadium this past Sunday may have been a first for him.
Soon after the team’s 26-0 loss on New Year’s Eve, a video of owner David Tepper tossing his drink towards Jacksonville Jaguars fans had emerged. On Wednesday, the elder statesman of the team was asked about his thoughts on the incident.
“You can’t do that,” Thompson said, per ESPN’s David Newton. “I don’t advise nobody to throw a drink on nobody. That’s just what it is. But I’ll let him address that.”
Tepper, after two days, finally addressed it in a statement on Tuesday evening:
I am deeply passionate about this team and regret my behavior on Sunday. I should have let NFL stadium security handle any issues that arose. I respect the NFL’s code of conduct and accept the League’s discipline for my behavior.
The league fined Tepper $300,000 for what they classified as “unacceptable conduct.”
