‘They should be more careful with their words’: Windsor native helping Lions fan sue for $100-million

Lawyers say they are looking to hold podcasters accountable for their words. CTV Windsor's Bob Bellacicco checks in with the team on a $100 million lawsuit.

In January, Ryan Kennedy made a plea to Pittsburgh Steelers player D.K. Metcalf during a news conference to dismiss the notion he is racist, “If you can just say that please. My family is getting threats and stuff and it’s not cool,” Kennedy said while getting emotional.

The Steelers were in Detroit to play the Lions in late December when the national broadcast captured an intense confrontation that saw Metcalf pull on Kennedy’s shirt and appear to strike him. The moment went viral.

“Ultimately what happened on that day should have stayed there at that day, but it didn’t. It got worse - significantly worse,” said Gasper Stare, a Windsor native working on Kennedy’s legal team through Marko Law in Detroit.

A 100-million dollar lawsuit has been filed by Kennedy against Metcalf and retired NFL greats Chad Johnson and Shannon Sharpe’s media company, as well as others.

Stare says a popular podcast hosted by Johnson and Sharpe claimed Kennedy made racial and vulgar slurs.

“Imagine in this day and age, 2025-2026, being labelled and regarded as a blatant racist. It’s just not right and we’re here to set the record straight,” said Stare. He added that the lawsuit includes nine counts, among them defamation and negligence.

“To think that they can hide all this and get away with it by stating to people like Johnson that the reason he did it was because our client said the n-word, which is completely untrue, that’s what this case is about,” Stare told CTV News.

He points to POV videos captured by others in the stands that, he says, clearly show what was said.

“Chad Ochocinco Johnson and Shannon Sharpe, of all people, especially with their noted history of legal troubles should be more careful with their words,” affirmed Stare. “It’s as simple as that, and they got it wrong. They refuse to correct the record, and so we’re going to hold them accountable.”