Two Philadelphia sports media figures have offered an alternate take on that viral video of an Eagles fan cursing a Green Bay Packers supporter during Sunday’s Wild Card game.
That video quickly went viral, showing the Eagles fan cursing and yelling misogynistic insults at a female Packers fan, Ally Keller. He repeatedly belittled her, calling her a dumb c***.”
What it’s like going to Philly just trying to root for your team…
Unprovoked, uncalled for. Packers twitter, help me out and find this guy…. this is not okay
I hate that my fiancé had this happen simply cheering for her team pic.twitter.com/aiHCKzxrSS
— Alexander Basara (@Basaraski) January 13, 2025
According to The New York Post, that Eagles fan, since identified as Ryan Caldwell, has been fired from his job and been banned from future events at Lincoln Financial Field.
However, on Wednesday, two Philly sports media figures cast some blame on Keller’s fiancé, Alex Basara, whose video post on X sent the incident viral. PHLY Sports podcaster Jon Marks posted on X that Basara created a GoFundMe page to fund his travel to the game. And the fact Basara wore a body camera and is a YouTube creator led Marks to believe “we’ve been manipulated by this dude.”
“The vulgar Eagles fan is clearly a POS, but the Packers fiancé who filmed the incident has a lot going on. How much did he instigate this?” Marks wrote. “Look at his attitude going into the Linc. He was wearing a body camera to video stuff for content. He also has multiple GoFundMe’s to pay for his travel to Packers games etc. Need more info, but it feels like we’ve been manipulated by this dude.”
The vulgar Eagles fan is clearly a POS, but the Packers fiancé who filmed the incident has a lot going on. How much did he instigate this? Look at his attitude going into the Linc. He was wearing a body camera to video stuff for content. He also has multiple GoFundMe’s to pay for… https://t.co/E4yX5HDUjm
— Jon Marks (@JonMarksMedia) January 14, 2025
Kyle Pagan, who writes for Philadelphia sports site Crossing Broad, wrote a piece entitled, “Now That Big Dom Took Out the Eagles Trash, Let’s Talk About this Cockroach Packers Fan.”
Pagan, like Marks, also harshly condemned Caldwell for his behavior. But Pagan noted that Basara requested on his GoFundMe page that backers “send me into the belly of the beast” for the game.
“Does that not feel like a guy who’s fishing for content a little bit and got one dumb Eagles fan to eat the trash?” Pagan wrote. “Now, to me, this is clear as day the reason why security was never notified what was happening. You do content for a couple years and you know what sells. He knew what he was getting on camera was gold.”
Some sleuths did a deep dive into Basara’s social media history and found examples of someone with that same user name and profile photo on Twitter making homophobic remarks while threatening other people.
Many fans responding to Marks’ post speculated about what might have sparked the incident.
Caldwell told The New York Post in a statement that in the viral video, “my actions were not without provocation.” However, Caldwell apologized profusely for his behavior.
“I want to sincerely apologize to Ms. Keller for those words, and to my wife, family, and friends, my former employer and colleagues, Packer fans, Eagle fans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the City of Philadelphia, and all who were offended,” Caldwell’s statement read. “That said, there are two sides to every story.
“The video clip circulating online does not reflect the full context of what transpired, and my actions were not without provocation. I will live with this experience, and I am certainly paying a personal price. For those who don’t know me, this incident does not reflect my values or the respect I have for others and is not indicative of the person I am.”
About Arthur Weinstein
Arthur spends his free time traveling around the U.S. to sporting events, state and national parks, and in search of great restaurants off the beaten path.