A group of turban-clad Broncos fans were reportedly turned away from the gates of Qualcomm Stadium this past Sunday due to their choice of headwear. One of those men, Verinder Malhi, told the local ABC affiliate about his encounter with a Chargers security guard, saying "Three of my buddies, they had turbans on, and it was like, you guys got to take the turbans off."
As you can see above they eventually got inside, though they were told by a security supervisor that they can't wear the turbans if they ever come back (which assumes the Chargers will still be playing in San Diego in the future).
Malhi, who is Sikh, further described his thoughts about the experience:
“It’s bad, I mean, this is embarrassing for me, because we are Americans at the end of the day. And we are not supposed to be afraid of fellow Americans. Everybody kind of confusing us with the turbans, because what you see on TV is mostly the terrorists they wear turbans. But our turbans is different, our faith is different our beliefs are different.”
In addition to his guard run-in, a paranoid fan called the San Diego PD on the group because they put something in their trunk, leading to a visit from a cop and a bomb-sniffing dog.
The city of San Diego is said to be looking into the matter, but nothing is likely to come from it since the security officer is not an employee of the city (be nice if somebody played that card when NFL teams come sniffing for taxpayer money to fund their stadiums). If nothing else this whole ordeal will give the Chargers PR department something to work on for the rest of the season. Though, really, the team should be happy that anybody's showing up to watch the terrible 3-9 product they've been putting on the field this year.
[via ABC 10 San Diego]
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