By Canadian Press

CFL says it won’t punish Redblacks’ Gott for viral beer-chugging celebration

Nov 3, 2018 | 12:45 PM

Jon Gott can rest easy.

A CFL spokesman said Saturday the Ottawa Redblacks offensive lineman won’t be fined for chugging a beer during the club’s 24-9 home win over the Toronto Argonauts on Friday night.

Following Ottawa’s final TD of the game, the six-foot-three, 297-pound Gott took the league’s liberal touchdown celebration policy to a new level. He ran into the end-zone stands, grabbed a beer from his girlfriend and started chugging it through his facemask. When he was finished, Gott crushed the can against his helmet.

Speaking to reporters afterwards, Gott was worried that the celebration may have crossed the line.

“It was all in fun. It was the last regular-season game and hopefully I don’t get in trouble too much, but we’ll see,” the Edmonton native said.

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Gott, who sports a lengthy, thick beard, said he had been planning the chug for the past few seasons, and when his girlfriend nodded to him he knew the time was right.

“It was probably four years ago I thought of it and I finally just pulled the trigger. Hopefully (CFL commissioner Randy) Ambrosie takes it easy on me.”

Gott’s celebration was widely circulated all over social media in Canada and the United States.

ESPN was among those tweeting the video Friday night. The video, tweeting with the caption: “They celebrate TDs a little differently in the Canadian Football League,” had over two million views as of Saturday afternoon and had been retweeted more than 18,000 times.

Injured Argos tackle Chris Van Zeyl, watched Friday’s game from home and said he had no problem with Gott’s celebration.

“That’s the emotion of the game,” Van Zeyl said Saturday at the Argos locker clean-out. “Guys don’t script that stuff, it just kind of happens. They’re entitled to celebrate when they win and score and whatever. That’s part of the game.”

Argos receiver S.J. Green, meanwhile, preferred not to say anything.

“I won’t comment on it, man. That has nothing to do with me,” he said. “I just control what I can. That’s out of my realm.”

The celebration was the talk of the CFL on Saturday. Winnipeg Blue Bombers offensive lineman Stanley Bryant was asked about the move after his team’s loss to Edmonton.

“It was crazy, I didn’t expect it,” Bryant said. “Jon Gott is one of those guys. I played with him in Calgary and he is a very cool guy. He is all about fun. I think that celebration suited him very well.”

Bombers receiver Ryan Lankford also praised Gott.

“It was pretty funny,” he said. “I love that kind of stuff, people just having a good time. He probably pushed the limits as far as you can push them, but I thought it was pretty funny.”

The Canadian Press