Getty Image / Adam Bettcher
Alexander Mattison doesn’t get many chances to score touchdowns for the Minnesota Vikings.
It isn’t because he’s not a talented player. He just happened to be drafted by a team that already had one of the league’s best running backs.
This weekend, when he scored just his 3rd touchdown of the season and 9th of his career with the Minnesota Vikings, he made sure to make the celebration memorable.
After running in a touchdown from 14 yards out, Mattison paid homage to a celebration by the NWSL’s Lo’eau LaBonta. The NFL then shared it on their Twitter page.
Hey @L0momma, how’d @AlexMattison22 do? 😂 (via @NWSL) pic.twitter.com/2uUIXzkrd9
— NFL (@NFL) December 5, 2022
It appears that wasn’t enough to keep them from fining him because of the celebration. NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero revealed today that Mattison had been fined $6503 for his celebration.
The NFL fined #Vikings RB Alexander Mattison $6,503 for this viral celebration last week, per source.
That’s $2,167 per twerk. pic.twitter.com/LwNK0PjCWc
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) December 9, 2022
Mattison posted a tweet of his own pointing out how ridiculous it is that he was fined for a celebration the NFL shared.
They share it like crazy.. then fine you like crazy 😂😂 smh
— Alexander Mattison (@AlexMattison22) December 9, 2022
He also asked the very important question of who actually comes up with the amounts for these fines.
And I just wanna know who sits there and comes up with these random number amounts for fines 😂
— Alexander Mattison (@AlexMattison22) December 9, 2022
Mattison even made sure to keep the receipts of the NFL using his celebration for social media engagement.
NFL Social media engagement from sharing my celebration📈.. My pockets 📉 .. 🤨 https://t.co/0ZeE0EfpSW
— Alexander Mattison (@AlexMattison22) December 9, 2022
There are plenty of NFL fines that are ridiculous, but this has to be one of their worst fines yet. I don’t know how the NFL can justify fining a player for something that they benefited from. To make it worse, the celebration is still on their Twitter page getting engagement from fans.
The NFL really got it wrong on this one.