A high schooler who was seen on video taunting Cam Newton has apologized to the quarterback.
The high schooler in the video was later identified as Jseth Owens of Perkiomen Valley High School. In the now-viral video, Owens was seen trash-talking Newton and yelling at him, “You a*s” before yelling, “you is a free-agent.” Newton is seen coming up to the high schooler and saying in response, “I’m rich,” to which Owens responds, “you’re about to be poor.” As the video of the exchange continues, the former MVP is seen asking the high schooler where his dad was because he wanted to speak with him.
The video went viral as various NFL players showed their support for the former Patriots quarterback. Various NFL players talked about how disrespectful Owens how he needs to learn better manners.
Following the exchange, the quarterback took to Instagram to post a message about the incident. In an Instagram post, he wrote, “People often forget as athletes that are often seen on TV — loved by most, hated by some — we are real dads, real friends, real brothers, real sons, real human beings. With that being said, when I attend tournaments all across the country with my all-star team, I have given my time, my energy, and my expertise to these kids coming into our program for over 11 years and that is not what people want to hear or even want to see.” The quarterback added, “But the truth is this, I impact kids’ lives in a positive way. Make no mistake about it, I allow kids to realize their ‘out’ by using their football talents to get them to the next level and in most cases out of the hood.”
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The high schooler in the video has since released an apology stating, “First & for most I want to express my deepest apologies to Cam Newton, my entire org, & my coaches for my actions at the 7v7 tournament this past weekend,” Owens wrote. “First I would like to start off by saying my parents never taught me to be disrespectful.” The high schooler went on to say that it was his competitive side that caused him to trash talk Newton, “As a football player I let my competitive side get the best of me & it was a huge miscommunication.”
