CINCINNATI — Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins have been fined by the NFL for their new “people’s elbow” touchdown celebration, Chase confirmed Thursday.
The celebration features Chase or Higgins gripping the right elbow with the left hand before swinging the right arm forward. Chase rejected suggestions on social media that the gesture carries an inappropriate meaning, saying the Bengals receivers created it simply as a new way to signal a first down.
The NFL viewed the celebration differently and fined both players. The league’s fine for a first unsportsmanlike conduct offense is $14,926, while a taunting violation carries an $11,941 penalty.
The Athletic reported that Higgins was fined four times and Chase twice, bringing the combined total to $89,556.
“We got fined for the people’s elbow stuff,” Chase said. “I would love to appeal it. It’s something we made up, and then everybody else is saying what it is. Everybody’s going to have their own opinion of what it looked like.”
Chase has now been fined six times by the NFL for various violations. He said he hopes the latest penalties will prompt the NFL Players Association to take action.
The league also fined San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk over a celebration he said was misunderstood. The NFL determined that Juszczyk was imitating someone chugging a beer. Juszczyk, whose nickname is “Juice,” said he has performed the celebration for years to represent drinking his juice.
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“I think this is where the superstars have to get in with the NFLPA and fight for our money because if he’s getting fined for doing a drinking gesture, a juice gesture, and I’m getting fined for an elbow and doing the first-down thing, I don’t know,” Chase said.
“I don’t even think we can tweet about it because we get fined for tweeting about it,” Chase added. “So it’s really like players have to keep their mouths shut and deal with it. We need a superstar in the NFLPA to do something about it and help us along the way.”
Chase’s six career fines total $613,162. They include an obscene-gesture penalty from the 2022 season opener, when he flashed both middle fingers at Pittsburgh safety Minkah Fitzpatrick.
Last season, Chase was suspended for one game after spitting on Pittsburgh cornerback Jalen Ramsey. The suspension cost him $507,156. The Bengals are scheduled to face the Steelers (1-1) on Sunday.
Chase has also been fined $31,599 for verbally abusing an official in Kansas City in 2024, $19,697 for an obscene gesture against Baltimore in 2024 and $15,914 for taunting the Chiefs in 2022.
Bengals wide receiver Andrei Iosivas successfully appealed a fine for a “violent gesture” after using a bow-and-arrow celebration following a touchdown in Kansas City in 2024.
Iosivas has not performed the celebration since winning that appeal.
Chase hopes the NFL’s interpretation of the gesture proves vague enough for him and Higgins to win their appeal. He did not rule out using the celebration again, even demonstrating a possible tweak during his news conference.
“This is literally like a wrestling move,” he said. “It was something different for us, something new, something we’re trying to be unique. They’re just stopping the fun.”