New Orleans Saints receiver Joe Horn was fined US$30,000 by the National Football League for making a choreographed cellphone call in the end zone to celebrate a touchdown.
NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed the amount of the fine Tuesday. Horn's agent, Ralph Vitolo, said the player will appeal.
"Fining him is one thing, but to me that's very excessive. This is not a murder case," Vitolo said.
The Saints did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment.
Return specialist Michael Lewis was fined US$5,000 for helping orchestrate the stunt, and Horn told Vitolo that he would pay that fine.
After catching the second of four touchdown passes in a 45-7 victory over the New York Giants on Sunday, Horn was handed a phone by Lewis, who pulled it out from under the padding used to protect the goal post.
Horn was still wearing his helmet when he punched in numbers, put the phone to the earhole and spoke into it for a few seconds.
"Would I take it back? No, no. I knew exactly what I was doing," Horn said after the game.
The Saints were immediately penalized 15 yards by the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct for the stunt.
Horn was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct for the second time this season and the seventh time since 2000, Aiello said.
Head coach Jim Haslett said the team would not punish Horn, but that he was disappointed in the receiver's "selfish" act.
After San Francisco's Terrell Owens pulled a pen out of his sock and autographed a football after scoring a touchdown in a game, NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue sent a memo to all teams warning that such stunts would be punished.
not again
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