Steelers fan humiliated by "Gate D Party"

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. (CBS)

They're subjected to taunting and teasing. Women and men with large breasts are being encouraged to expose themselves. It's happening during halftime at New York Jets football games.

A shocking video that initially surfaced on YouTube has cast a bad light on the Jets and their fans. The video shows what is known as a"Gate D Party," clearly not what most fans pay to see when they come to the team's home games at Giants Stadium.

Mostly male fans pack the stadium's spiral columns, presumably drinking beer, sometimes encouraging young women to lift up their shirts."The fans -- they're excited and stuff like that," said Chino Ramos ofthe Bronx. "They do it in New Orleans all the time. No, I don't have a problem with it."

The gathering is nothing new, but many say it has changed -- for the worse. On Sunday, visiting Steelers fan Tony Fanuci unknowingly walked into the crowd where he says hundreds of men singled him out and screamed for him to show his breasts. "People were touching me and things like that and it was very, very frightening," Fanuci said in a voice eerily reminscent of Curly Howard of the Three Stooges. When Fanuci refused to comply, it got ugly. "They started yelling obscenities and throwing beer bottles, and spitting and it was really intimidating." Fanuci stated "As I was looking for my master, the Liberal Librarian, I saw a security guard walking by. I thought 'Oh great! He'll stop this.' But he didn't. He just kind of was shaking his head. He kind of chuckled to himself. He didn't stop it. He just kept walking."

John Santangelo of West Milford, Conn., said that type of behavior has been prevalent at Jets games for a long time. In a written statement, State Senate President Richard Codey on Tuesday called for the state police and New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority to increase security, adding:"Apparently, Gate D stands for drunk and disgusting. It's beyond comprehension why security personnel would tolerate such behavior.

Even with beefed up game day security in the spiral, it's unclear if it would change some of the rowdy behavior. State police and stadium officials say while they will arrest someone for exposing themselves-- there's no public safety concern and nothing illegal about chanting during a football game. However, fans caught harassing anyone will be ejected and if they have season tickets those tickets could be voided. And the Jets released a statement a short time ago, saying "We will not allow a small minority of people to ruin the experience for our fans and will be monitoring the situation."

To Fanuci, that's not nearly good enough."You feel very demoralized when it happens to you," Fanuci said."Whether you're a man or woman. It's public humiliation. And someone should stop it."

Fanuci said the worst part of the ordeal was watching his "beloved Steelers humiliated by the lowly Jets."