Minnesota Vikings offensive lineman Matt Kalil apologized Monday for an incident in which he angrily knocked a hat off the head of a heckling fan after a loss to the Green Bay Packers.
Matt Kalil apologizes for knocking hat off heckler’s head
The Vikings OT said he had “a short fuse” after the loss to the Packers.
“I usually shrug that stuff off,” Kalil told 1500 ESPN. “Fans like to talk and say some things, but that’s something I could have been a bigger man and walked away. But it wasn’t really that big of a deal.”
The incident occurred when a Vikings fan, identified as Rhett Wade, began shouting at Kalil as he was walking out of the stadium. Kalil, who hurt his team with three penalties for 35 yards during the 24-21 loss, turned back toward the man, used his hand to knock off his hat, then walked away.
“I just had a short fuse that day,” Kalil said. “I’m usually pretty good at keeping my composure.”
Wade shared his account of the incident with ESPN’s Ben Goessling via Twitter.
”We just watched Matt Kalil cost us the game, so when he came out I really didn’t want to see him, so I said to him “where do you want to be traded?” and he was on his phone, and when it finally registered with him what I said he turned and then he told me to “get the (expletive) outta here” and then I said “I’d rather have your brother than you on my team” and then he walked away like he didn’t hear what I said, but then he turned back around and asked me what I said again and then I repeated what I said again and then he proceeded to grab my hat off my head and throw it on the ground and mumble some stuff I didn’t hear, I then threw my program in his face.”
Wade later said he planned to press charges against Kalil.
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