Over the holiday weekend, Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, DeSean Jackson, posted a now-deleted photo on his Instagram page, which include a quote, falsely attributed to Adolf Hitler The post quickly spread online, receiving significant backlash.
A former member of the UVA football team, Chris Long, called Jackson’s post a “f–king disaster.” In the most recent episode of his “Green Light” podcast, Long pointed out the lack of outrage following Desean Jackson’s post:
“It seems like, and I don’t know what it is, but it seems like we’re not allowed to say, ‘Hey, that’s not good.’ It’s not good. It’s wrong, and I’m sure I have Jewish listeners. I’m against anti-semitism, and I didn’t see and I haven’t seen nearly enough people saying, ‘Yeah, man, this was a misstep.’”
Former President of the Eagles, Joe Banner, released this statement on Twitter Monday night:
If a white player said anything about AA’s as outrageous as what Desean Jackson said about Jews tonight there would at least be a serious conversation about cutting him and a need for a team meeting to discuss. Which would be totally appropriate. Absolutely indefensible.
— Joe Banner (@JoeBanner13) July 7, 2020
Jackson’s statement comes in the midst of global discussions surrounding the Black Lives Matter movement. With some stating that Jackson’s comments are a step back from the progress that has been achieved over the past few months. While appearing on ESPN’s “Around The Horn” Elle Duncan stated “There is no hierarchy when it comes to bigotry. Racism, sexism, anti-Semitism they are all despicable behaviors.”
Duncan went on to explain her disappointment in the Eagles response to the incident,
“The Eagles essentially described it as a ‘teachable moment’ and I think that could not be more tone deaf.”
Jackson later released two statements on social media, on Tuesday and Wednesday, after his post went viral.
In response to these apologies, Chris Long stated, “ I don’t get to decide when his apology or his learning process on this thing is complete. All I know is that he talked bad about Jewish people, and somehow managed to use a fake Hitler quote doing it, and that is a f–king disaster … I think it’s f–ked up, unequivocally.”
The Eagles have released a statement denouncing the post from Desean Jackson, but as of yet, no discipline has been taken by the team or the NFL.
