{"id":447424,"date":"2026-02-03T23:20:07","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:20:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447424\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T23:20:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:20:07","slug":"steelers-news-lions-fan-from-d-k-metcalf-altercation-files-100-million-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/447424\/","title":{"rendered":"Steelers news: Lions fan from D.K. Metcalf altercation files $100 million lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Lions fan Steelers wide receiver D.K. Metcalf confronted and made contact with in a December game has filed a $100 million defamation lawsuit against the wide receiver, the Steelers, former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson, and several companies, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.metrotimes.com\/news\/metro-detroit-news\/lions-fan-sues-dk-metcalf-and-steelers-for-defamation-and-assault-after-being-labeled-racist\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">The Detroit Metro Times<\/a> reported Tuesday. He is also suing Metcalf for assault and battery.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Metcalf was suspended for two regular season games following the altercation by the NFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Metro Times reports that the fan, Ryan Kennedy, says in the lawsuit that he never used any slurs, just Metcalf\u2019s first name and \u201cordinary crowd jeering,\u201d and that Metcalf initiated the contact.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Kennedy is suing for defamation following claims made by former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson on his \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/NightcapShow_\/status\/2002985308447703294?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2002985308447703294%7Ctwgr%5E7feec02d81c2f3912e95550792353f3a70332d40%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.behindthesteelcurtain.com%2Fpittsburgh-steelers-news%2F164257%2Fdk-metcalf-fan-press-conference-altercation-steelers-lions-news-lawsuit-lawyers-chad-ochocinco-ryan-kennedy\" rel=\"nofollow\">Nightcap<\/a>\u201d podcast with former NFL tight end Shannon Sharpe following the game. Johnson said that Kennedy both called Metcalf a racial slur and called Metcalf\u2019s mother a derogatory term.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The former receiver said the information came from \u201ca reliable source who wears No. 4\u201d \u2014 essentially saying his source was Metcalf himself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Metcalf has not directly addressed the incident outside of a Q&amp;A session with the Steelers media where he offered limited information.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">The Metro Times reports that \u201cKennedy says he received death threats, harassing voicemails, and hate mail, and that his mortgage-lending business suffered reputational and financial harm\u201d following the claims he used a slur.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Metcalf, as well as the other parties named in the lawsuit, has not yet publicly addressed the filing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Lions fan Steelers wide receiver D.K. Metcalf confronted and made contact with in a December game has&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":447425,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[399,398,396,397,7391,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-447424","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-ncaa-football","8":"tag-football","9":"tag-ncaa","10":"tag-ncaa-football","11":"tag-ncaafootball","12":"tag-pittsburgh-steelers-news","13":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=447424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447424\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/447425"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}