The now-former employer of Ryan Caldwell, the man at the center of internet backlash after he was captured on video calling a female Packers fan a “dumb c–t,” described his comments as “wholly unacceptable” while pushing back on the social media backlash. 

BCT Partners co-founders Lawrence Hibbert and Dr. Randal Pinkett addressed the now-infamous incident in an interview with TMZ on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after they announced they fired Caldwell from his position at the DEI-focused company.

“I can’t say enough about how abhorrent the behavior that we observed was and how upset I was in seeing someone who was at the time ᴀssociated with our company displaying that kind of behavior,” Pinkett said in the interview with the outlet. 

Caldwell himself acknowledged the “unforgiving words” he used toward Ally Keller and described what he said as “unacceptable” in a statement released on Wednesday afternoon.

“I want to sincerely apologize to Ms. Keller for those words, and to my wife, family, and friends, my former employer and colleagues, Packer fans, Eagle fans, the Philadelphia Eagles, the City of Philadelphia, and all who were offended,” Caldwell said. 

Hibbert said that BCT Partners “took some time out” to verify that it was Caldwell in the video and Pinkett explained that they went through a process that led them to the decision to fire Caldwell from his role at the company. 

Outside of the statement put out Wednesday, Caldwell has remained mum on what transpired on Sunday in the stands at Lincoln Financial Field. 

Hibbert called the last 48 hours a “very difficult time” for BCT Partners, especially amid the company’s 25th anniversary, and explained that having their integrity called into question “hurts.” 

But the pair pushed back on the extreme reactions they’ve seen, especially directed at their company through some “vile” comments that were being made online. 

“That’s the problem with the culture that we’ve created in which we find ourselves is, that there’s no room for grace,” he explained. “There’s no room, there’s just two extremes, either you’re okay or you are canceled. We believe there’s a middle ground that we can recover from mistakes, we can learn and we can grow. We believe that Mr. Caldwell can learn and grow, but we believe that our society can also learn and grow.

“That we can criticize the behavior, we can condemn the behavior without condemning the individual.”

Keller and her fiancé Alexander Basara, who filmed the altercation during Sunday’s NFC wild-card game between the Eagles and Packers, described a “dangerous situation” that unfolded where Caldwell began hurling insults.