{"id":727508,"date":"2026-02-04T00:28:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/727508\/"},"modified":"2026-02-04T00:28:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-04T00:28:17","slug":"lions-fan-files-100-million-defamation-lawsuit-against-dk-metcalf-steelers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/727508\/","title":{"rendered":"Lions Fan Files $100 Million Defamation Lawsuit Against DK Metcalf, Steelers"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Detroit Lions fan involved in a December altercation with Pittsburgh Steelers WR DK Metcalf has brought a $100 million defamation lawsuit against Metcalf, the Steelers, and others. Per the Detroit Metro Times,<\/a> Ryan Kennedy is suing for damages after being billed as a racist after podcasts relayed that he allegedly said the N-word to Metcalf during a Week 16 game.<\/p>\n

From the Metro Times.<\/p>\n

\u201cRyan Kennedy, a longtime Lions season-ticket holder and mortgage company CEO, filed the suit in Wayne County Circuit Court after he was publicly labeled a racist following the assault. Metcalf claimed Kennedy called him the N-word, according to the suit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He sued Metcalf, the Steelers, former NFL player Chad \u201cOchocinco\u201d Johnson, Shay Shay Media LLC, All Time Sports LLC (which does business as The Volume), and Ford Field Management LLC.\u201d<\/p>\n

The NFL suspended Metcalf for the final two regular-season games for his actions in the incident. After his return, Metcalf declined comment on the situation, saying he could not talk about it for reasons that were likely legally related.<\/p>\n

Metcalf never publicly accused Kennedy of anything. But his words were apparently relayed to Chad Johnson and James Harrison, who shared in their respective comments what Kennedy reportedly said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe did call him a racial slur,\u201d Johnson said on his Nightcap podcast<\/a>. \u201cHe called him the N-word and he did call his mom a [C-word]. And I think with those words being exchanged and the fan saying that, I think that\u2019s where the action occurred where I think he threw a punch. I\u2019m not sure if he connected or whatever. But he did call him the N-word and he called his mama, I guess the C-word.\u201d<\/p>\n

Johnson said his source was someone who wears \u201cNo. 4,\u201d Metcalf\u2019s number in Pittsburgh. Harrison corroborated that account,<\/a> although he is not named in the lawsuit.<\/p>\n

Shortly after the incident, Kennedy held a press conference<\/a> with two attorneys asking Metcalf to retract and apologize for his comments or face a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t use any racial slurs, no hate speech. I mean, none of that stuff at the game. Actually never. Fifteen years season-ticket holder for the Lions, I\u2019ve never done that at all. So to DeKaylin, if you\u2019re watching this man, just if you could just say that please,\u201d Kennedy said, according to\u00a0The Athletic\u2019s Mike DeFabo<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Kennedy claimed he only called Metcalf by his \u201cgovernment\u201d first name, DeKaylin, which triggered Metcalf\u2019s response.<\/p>\n

The two reportedly had history. In a 2024 game between the Seattle Seahawks and Lions, Kennedy was accused of hurling insults at Metcalf. Metcalf relayed the information to securitym but no tangible action was taken. After the 2025 incident, FOX Sports insider Jay Glazer pulled the 2024 report that indicated fans around Kennedy confirmed he used insulting language toward Metcalf.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this it says, when we investigated during the game, the individuals around him state and corroborated that the fan was being outta line and had indeed said these derogatory statements. They even asked us to remove the guy,\u201d Glazer said of the 2024 report.<\/p>\n

Per the Wayne County Courthouse, a status conference has been scheduled for May 5. We\u2019ll update this post if any of the parties involved issues a statement.<\/p>\n

Developing story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Detroit Lions fan involved in a December altercation with Pittsburgh Steelers WR DK Metcalf has brought a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":727509,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[105001,2870,7,6,57,91754,691,1481],"class_list":["post-727508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-detroit-metro-news","tag-dk-metcalf","tag-football","tag-nfl","tag-pittsburgh-steelers","tag-ryan-kennedy","tag-trending","tag-weekly"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116009533990004726","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=727508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/727508\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/727509"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=727508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=727508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=727508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}