NFL coach Jack Del Rio’s contrition tour continued Tuesday morning with an apology to members of the Washington Commanders for his comments last week comparing the January 6 riot to the widespread rioting in the summer of 2020 following the death of George Floyd.
Del Rio, who was fined $100,000 by the team and forced to apologize last week for saying the January 6 riot was a “dust-up” and not as bad as the 2020 riots that caused billions of dollars in damage, delivered a private mea culpa to the team. The defensive coordinator’s message was “well received,” according to Washington Head Coach Ron Rivera.
“Jack spoke to the team this morning during the team meeting and was very open and contrite and apologized and was open to questions,” Rivera said. “He said, ‘Guys if you have any questions come see me and let’s talk about that.’ It was good. I’m about reconciliation.”
"Why in the world are we treating January 6th as if it is the only riot that has ever occurred in our nation's history?" –@ClayTravis #WashingtonCommanders #JackDelRio https://t.co/4vgFOltxKW
— OutKick (@Outkick) June 13, 2022
Del Rio ran afoul of the famously woke league when he questioned why the Capitol riot was receiving so much more condemnation than the riots of two summers ago.
“Businesses are being burned down, no problem and then we have a dust-up at the Capitol, nothing burned down and we’re gonna make that a major deal,” Del Rio said Wednesday, after he was asked about a tweet from earlier in the week where he said he would love to understand the “whole story” of what happened during the summer of 2020.
The former head coach of the Jacksonville Jaguars and then Oakland Raiders went on to clarify his comment.
“I’m being respectful. I just asked a simple question,” he said. “Let’s get right down to it: What did I ask? A simple question. Why are we not looking into [the protests], if we’re going to talk about [the Capitol riot]? Why are we not looking into those things?”
But later that day, Del Rio apologized in a statement.
“Referencing that situation as a dust-up was irresponsible and negligent and I am sorry,” he said. “I stand by my comments condemning violence in communities across the country. I say that while also expressing my support as an American citizen for peaceful protest in our country.”
On Friday, Rivera announced that the team had fined Del Rio $100,000, with the proceeds going to the U.S. Capitol Police Memorial Fund. A day later, Del Rio deleted his Twitter account, which had nearly 100,000 followers.
Rivera insisted Tuesday that the disciplinary action was not aimed at silencing Del Rio.
“This is not about the fact he exercised his right to free speech,” Rivera said. “This is about him impacting the football team. I believe in the First Amendment very strongly. It’s a very serious question and topic, but at the end of the day it did impact us and that’s why I did what I did.”
Source: Dailywire
