"He appeared to imitate the celebration of Keegan-Michael Key's character Hingle McCringleberry from "Key & Peele," who is penalized after a similar celebration in a football sketch. Crucially, McCringleberry had a flag thrown after three thrusts. Dowdle limited himself to two, but as Key himself pointed out during a recent video call with the Panthers, the NFL's rules are not the same as its television counterpart."
"Key and his wife, Elle, also donated $15,000 to Dowdle's charity GoFundMe that the running back set up after the fine, with money going to the Children's Home Society of North Carolina. After scoring a touchdown on Sunday, Dowdle posed as if he was about to do a McCringleberry celebration -- then stopped himself, cannily avoiding a fine. Zero pumps@BudLight | #ForTheCelly pic.twitter.com/FbIULA84ZJ- Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) November 9, 2025"
Rico Dowdle was fined $14,491 for a pelvic-thrust celebration during the Carolina Panthers' 16-13 win against the Green Bay Packers. He appeared to imitate Keegan-Michael Key's character Hingle McCringleberry from "Key & Peele," who is penalized after a similar celebration in a football sketch. Dowdle limited himself to two thrusts yet received a fine. Keegan-Michael Key and his wife Elle donated $15,000 to Dowdle's GoFundMe for the Children's Home Society of North Carolina. After that, Dowdle and Aaron Jones mimed the celebration and stopped before completing it to avoid fines.
Read at ESPN.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]