Lions revoke fans’ tickets over verbal altercation with Packers’ LaFleur

DETROIT – The Lions confirmed to ESPN that the team has revoked the season tickets of a fan who had a verbal altercation with Packers coach Matt LaFleur before the game at Ford Field last week.

A television camera captured the end of a heated exchange between LaFleur and Fahad Yousif, a Lions fan from Farmington Hills, Michigan, who was among the group that held a giant flag for the national anthem last Thursday night.

LaFleur could be seen yelling at the fan but said his actions were provoked.

“I’ve never been a part of anything like this,” LaFleur said after Sunday’s 34-31 loss to the Lions. “He talked nonsense to our players and gave them the sign of cutting their throats. You try to de-escalate things and then he gets in my face. I thought that was pretty unsportsmanlike.”

“I’ve never seen that before. I’ve been on a lot of pitches and usually they control a lot better there. I thought it was an arrogant fan who wanted to be part of the action. I’d like to see security, wouldn’t I.” Something intervenes and gets him out of there, because he shouldn’t be doing that.

Yousif confirmed the team’s decision to The Detroit News and said he was “devastated” about the move after being contacted via email.

“Biggest punch in the gut, man,” Yousif told the Detroit News on Thursday. “Just waking up and seeing that email and not being able to speak to anyone in person was a terrible feeling. I don’t have a chance to give my side of the story or anything.”

The 12-1 Lions are off to their best start in franchise history with 11 straight wins. On Sunday, they return to Ford Field to host the Bills (10-3) in a battle of Super Bowl contenders. Yousif, a lifelong Lions fan, said the team’s success “makes it even more painful.”

“This has been my identity my whole life, and it was just taken away from me by one small incident. This definitely could have been avoided on my part,” Yousif told The Detroit News.

“I would let (the Lions) know that I am so sorry for embarrassing this team. That really wasn’t my intention. I would apologize to everyone and do everything I could to get back into the stadium and support my team.”

ESPN’s Rob Demovsky contributed to this report.