MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. – Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill said Thursday that he is covering the salary of an NFL photographer who was suspended after celebrating with him after a touchdown earlier this season.
Kevin Fitzgibbons, who had been contracted by the NFL to shoot all of the Dolphins home games, was behind the endzone when Hill scored a 41-yard touchdown in the second quarter against the Carolina Panthers in Week 6.
Right after finding his way to the endzone, Hill took a phone from Fitzgibbons and filmed himself doing a backflip selfie before handing the phone back.
The NFL’s UK Twitter account posted the video before promptly deleting it.
Fitzgibbons told his followers on social media earlier this week that he was suspended for the rest of the season – and “possibly for good” – for celebrating with Hill.
“[The NFL] said regardless [of] if I knew the celebration was coming or not, I still had to be disciplined and that I shouldn’t have jumped on the sidelines after the play,” Fitzgibbons said in a video.
Hill was flagged on the play for using a prop in celebration but didn’t put any of the blame on Fitzgibbons during a Week 6 postgame interview. On Thursday, he said he and Fitzgibbons are longtime friends and that he will cover any lost pay.
“Me and K-Fitz, we’ve got a long history together,” Hill told ESPN reporter Marcel Louis Jacquez in an interview “The news is something that I already knew. I told him don’t let this get to you. Just hold your head up. You’re still young. Continue to do what you love. Me and him are going to continue to work together.”
Here’s Tyreek Hill discussing how he’s helping UM student Kevin Fitzgibbons in the wake of the NFL pulling his credentials. https://t.co/9qSs5PTpEZ pic.twitter.com/6M5AmJ7s8h
— Clay Ferraro (@ClayWPLG) November 30, 2023
“I told him I was going to cover his salary, whatever the NFL was going to pay him or whatever. I told him I was going to make sure that I do what’s right and take care of you, make sure you’re not out of a job. That’s my guy,” he added.
Fitzgibbons, a 20-year-old student at the University of Miami, is still an NFL employee and is not barred from future events, an NFL source told ESPN.
He ended his video by saying that he understood the NFL’s decision to suspend him and thanked the league for the “dream” opportunity.
