NEW YORK (AP) — Buffalo Bills defensive back Sam Franklin has successfully appealed his one-game suspension for what the NFL said was an act of spitting at an opponent on Sunday.
The league announced Friday that hearing officer James Thrash reduced the punishment to a fine of $14,926 for unsportsmanlike conduct. That makes Franklin eligible to play in Buffalo’s next game on Nov. 1 against Baltimore, following the Bills' bye week.
Agent Harold Lewis adamantly denied that Franklin spit on anyone.
Teammate C.J. Gardner-Johnson had his one-game spitting suspension upheld Thursday after appealing it.
Franklin earlier this week denied the spitting allegation in a message posted on his Instagram account, saying he’s “not a dirty player.”
He said he was defending himself without resorting to spitting at anyone. His social media post included a video showing Las Vegas offensive lineman Delmar Glaze appearing to strike Franklin in a sensitive area below the waist during the Raiders’ successful extra-point attempt in Buffalo’s 33-30 win.
Lewis said Franklin was also struck in a similar fashion during a Raiders’ successful field-goal attempt earlier in the game.
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FILE - Buffalo Bills safety Sam Franklin Jr. (28) celebrates prior to the game against the Denver Broncos in an NFL divisional playoff football game, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026 in Denver. (AP Photo/Bart Young, File)
Republican Vivek Ramaswamy on Friday defended his campaign's ad featuring the estranged mother of Democratic rival Dr. Amy Acton in the closely watched race for Ohio governor.
Speaking at a campaign stop in northeast Ohio, he said the advertisement, which features Acton's mother calling her “a liar,” had nothing to do with childhood abuse.
“The irony is they’re lying about an ad that is about lying,” Ramaswamy said. “They’re changing the subject because they don’t want to answer for their own failures."
The advertisement features Acton’s birth mother, Donna Arthur, criticizing her and insinuating she has mental health issues. Arthur lost custody of her children after her husband, the children's stepfather, was indicted for raping Acton.
Acton is Ohio’s former public health director and has made no secret of facing homelessness and abuse as a child. She has condemned Ramaswamy for the ad.
“I won’t normalize somebody who has said that my childhood is just something I’m complaining about.” she told Spectrum News, a cable news outlet in Ohio.
A message seeking comment was sent Friday to her campaign
The ad has stirred significant reaction, including from President Donald Trump, who said it was like “hitting pay dirt.”
At a campaign rally in Iowa on Thursday, Trump told the crowd Ramaswamy called him to ask for advice.
“You’ve got to ride with it,” Trump recalled telling Ramaswamy, a biotech billionaire and former presidential candidate. Trump expressed jealousy that he didn’t have such a strong ad to run during his own campaigns.
Other Republicans have been critical.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine criticized Ramaswamy and said the ad should be taken down.
“It’s wrong to run this ad,” DeWine said Thursday.
According to police and court documents obtained by The Associated Press, Cledith Arthur was arrested and charged with the rape of his stepdaughter, then 12, in July 1978, after Acton’s biological father reported him to authorities. The abuse allegedly happened from December 1976 to April 1978.
Cledith Arthur pleaded not guilty. He was indicted by a grand jury that September, but failed to show at a court hearing and remained a fugitive until at least 1981. He has since died.
President Donald Trump listens as gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy speaks at a campaign rally at the Covelli Centre, in Youngstown, Ohio, Monday, Oct. 12, 2026. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
