After catching wind of a viral video from Sunday’s game in Las Vegas that featured a Raiders fan screaming relentlessly in the face of a Patriots fan, New England owner Robert Kraft made a classy gesture.
Kraft invited Patriots fan Jerry Edmond to Gillette Stadium for this Saturday’s Week 16 game against the Cincinnati Bengals, according to Patriots.com’s Alexandra Francisco.
Edmond was attending his first-ever NFL game at Allegiant Stadium only to see the Patriots’ mind-blowing final play result in a loss to the Raiders. A female Raiders fan, who was said to be chirping Edmond all game for rooting on the Patriots, then unleashed a fiery response to Las Vegas’ walk-off win.
The video showcasing the female fan was posted to Twitter on Tuesday, and as of Thursday afternoon, it had 8.3 million views. Many praised Edmond for conducting himself with class.
You can watch the viral video here:
Edmond tweeted in response to the video Tuesday.
“I’d like to thank everyone for all the kind words,” he wrote in a tweet that had 193,000 likes as of Thursday afternoon. “I’m the Patriots fan in the video. My name is Jerry Edmond and that was my first ever NFL game. I didn’t want to ruin my experience by retaliating towards that woman so I kept my cool.”
Kraft and the Patriots now will look to deliver a more memorable experience for Edmond given his first NFL game didn’t live up to it. Kraft talked to Edmond personally and offered field passes so he can take in warmups, according to Patriots.com.
The Patriots will host the Bengals on Christmas Eve, with kickoff slated for 1 p.m. ET. New England enters the contest as a 3.5-point home underdog.
