The mysterious Baltimore Ravens fan who went viral during Saturday’s Divisional Round win over the Houston Texans has been identified.
While Lamar Jackson was firing his team to an AFC Championship game, fans noticed a male watching on who bore a stark resemblance to former Christian minister and activist Martin Luther King Jr.
Photos of the man began doing the rounds online, even drawing an admission from MLK’s daughter Bernice.
The Baltimore Banner’s Chris Korman managed to track said individual down and got an interview with him. The fan, Wardell Roberts, had attended the game with his wife Karla and their eight-year-old son Karson and was shocked at his newfound fame.
Wardell is a Frederick native and has been a Ravens fan all his life, but Karson was attending his first game.
“He’s a little mad that nobody is recognizing him, but he was just learning about MLK this week so he thinks it’s the greatest thing ever,” he said of his son.
The now-famous Baltimore supporter wasn’t surprised he ended up on TV as there was a shirtless fan right behind him going wild. However, he was surprised to find out he was the one who’d been getting all the attention, given that he isn’t on X and had no idea the comparisons were flying about the platform.
“I figured the camera would find him,” Wardell explained. “Thought I might go home, run it back on the DVR, see us on the screen and that’s it.”
“It didn’t stop,” he added. “Everybody started sending it. They’re all saying, ‘You’re trending right now.’ It was everywhere. Even Dr. King’s daughter [Bernice King] saw it and got a chuckle out of it.”
Roberts hadn’t gotten tickets to the AFC Championship Game when he spoke to Korman but was hoping to get some this week.
“I think we’re headed to the Super Bowl,” he said. “It felt like we could be here, but the way they are locked in – the way Lamar is – it’s special.”
As for his resemblance to the former civil rights leader, he says a few friends made mention of it while he was in college but he never paid it much thought.
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