Fan on sidelines offers Panthers QB Cam Newton box of fried chicken. Newton accepts.
Fans have handed Carolina Panther Cam Newton countless oddities from the sidelines — mostly hoping for an autograph — but on Thursday, somebody gave him a box of chicken.
What’s more surprising: Newton took it.
Whether it was a Bojangles publicity stunt or not isn’t clear, but Twitter loved it, with some fans claiming it made Newton seem “down to earth.”
“Cam Newton getting a box of Bojangles at training camp, while in pads, might be the most Southern thing I have ever seen,” tweeted Jeff D. Lowe. “This is awesome.”
Panthers fan site CatScratchReader reported Newton was “slapping hands with fans” during the first day of training camp in Spartanburg when the 20-piece box of chicken appeared in someone’s hand.
USAToday’s sports site ForTheWin.com said fans brought the chicken as a surprise for Newton.
However, the ball cap wearing man who handed it off also flashed a tennis shoe to be autographed, revealing a possible ulterior motive. He did it too late, as Newton grabbed the large box and quickly turned back to the field.
A video tweeted by the Carolina Panthers showed Newton playfully sitting down with a circle of team mates and pretending to pass out the food.
But the group quickly hopped up and turned their attention back to practice, setting the chicken aside.
This story was originally published July 27, 2018 at 3:10 PM with the headline "Fan on sidelines offers Panthers QB Cam Newton box of fried chicken. Newton accepts.."