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Eagles

In Radio Interview, George Norcross Says he was “Assaulted and Ejected” from Lincoln Financial Field by “Rent-a-Cop Thugs”

Kevin Kinkead

By Kevin Kinkead

Published:

South Jersey Democratic power broker George Norcross went on 990 the Answer with Chris Stigall on Wednesday morning. That’s a sentence I never thought I’d type, but times are a little weird right now!

If you missed the story on Sunday, Norcross was ejected from Lincoln Financial Field because he displayed a banner from his box that was half American flag, half Israeli flag.

The full policy prohibits the hanging of signs “on the stadium structure,” though it reads like this, in full:

“Banners and Signs: Signs, banners or similar items that are obscene or indecent, not event-related, potentially offensive to other patrons, capable of blocking the views of other fans or otherwise deemed dangerous or inappropriate by the Eagles are prohibited. They may not contain commercial messages, logos or political endorsements and may not be hung on the stadium structure. Signs on poles or sticks larger than 1 foot in length, constructed of wood or metal material, are also not permitted. Lincoln Financial Field reserves the right to confiscate signs that are in violation of stadium policy.”

Speaking with Stigall, Norcross focused on the language of “obscene or indecent” –

Stigall: “Is it true you were ejected from the stadium, and if so, on what grounds?”

Norcross: “Well I was assaulted and ejected, for sure. I can only assume that because they deemed, under their own policy, this small flag obscene or indecent, that they were invoking that policy somehow. They couldn’t possibly be invoking non-game messaging, when in fact that’s all they do, throughout the course of almost every game, on subject matters that people like me would support most of the time or some of the time. Because the flag is what caused this to take place, and then demanding removal of it, which was shocking to me. In retrospect, someone (could have) come in and respectfully said, ‘we don’t permit this here, we’d appreciate it if you do not do this at the next game,’ and that would have been the end of it. Because I would have known their policy. I wouldn’t have agreed with it, but would have respected it. And when I was removed from the box, I was removed by some rent-a-cop thugs, not great Philadelphia police officers, who by the way treated me very respectfully, and I would have done anything they asked. Except these fellas were a bunch of thugs who probably worked as bouncers at bars and came in and decided to forcibly remove me, tie my arm behind my back and grab me by the shoulder like I’d just held up a Wawa.”

Norcross went on to say that he knows Jeffrey Lurie and has played golf with him before, but explained that the Eagles sent Mayor Jim Kenney down to the box to talk to him, which he found “strange.” He called his display of the flag “innocuous” and noted that the Eagles do these kinds of social commentaries all the time.

Right, so we’ve got two different things going on here. One, I’m reading that policy again, and it clearly states that you can’t hang shit from anywhere. So for that reason alone, the Eagles were justified in taking it down. Now whether or not that was communicated to Norcross is topic #2. He seems to suggest in the interview that the violation wasn’t explicitly explained, and says he was treated poorly upon his removal. A few times in the interview he repeats the claim that he was more or less roughed up by the “rent-a-cops.”

As far as I’m aware, there’s been no statement from the Eagles on the matter (EDIT – it looks like they said something Monday, here’s the full thing sent over to me) – 

The Philadelphia Eagles reaffirm our stance again condemning the horrific and brutal Hamas terrorist attacks in Israel on October 7th.

‘The tragic loss of innocent lives in Israel is both shocking and heartbreaking. We condemn the abhorrent acts of terrorism, and we grieve for all the victims and their families. We pray for peace to be brought to the people of the region.’ – Philadelphia Eagles, October 9, 2023.

We feel it necessary to articulate the facts of the matter involving Mr. Norcross at the stadium on Sunday. Mr. Norcross’ removal from the stadium had nothing to do with the content of his sign. Our stadium policies expressly prohibit signage containing any kind of non-game messaging to be hung from a stadium suite. Stadium staff repeatedly asked Mr. Norcross to remove the sign he hung outside of the suite. Instead of complying with the request, Mr. Norcross became physically and verbally abusive. Mr. Norcross was ejected from the stadium only after his abuse toward numerous stadium staff members continued. He was escorted from the suite level to the stadium’s ejection point, just as anyone else would be after engaging in abusive behavior in violation of stadium policy.

You can watch the video again and/or listen to the full interview here:

Kevin Kinkead
Kevin Kinkead

Kevin has been writing about Philadelphia sports since 2009. He spent seven years in the CBS 3 sports department and started with the Union during the team's 2010 inaugural season. He went to the academic powerhouses of Boyertown High School and West Virginia University. email - k.kinkead@sportradar.com

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