NFL Attempts To Silence Jerry Jones' Hard Stance on Anthem Kneelers
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones made it clear last week that his organization won’t tolerate protests during the national anthem.
Now the NFL, which has hemorrhaged fan support as it’s mishandled the anthem controversy, has responded — by putting a muzzle on Jones.
“You know where I stand, our teams know where I stand. That is where we are,” Jones said Wednesday during a press conference to open training camp in Oxnard, California. “Our policy is you stand during the anthem, toe on the line.”
Jones’ son Stephen, the team’s executive vice president, went further in a radio interview the next day. When asked whether he was confident players would follow the rule, the younger Jones said, “If they want to be a Dallas Cowboy, yes.”
“There’s one way to do it right in our mind, and that’s go toes on the line and stand for the anthem,” he said Thursday on KTCK-FM.
“That’s not an ‘I’ or ‘me’ thing. This is an organizational thing,” Stephen Jones said. “We feel strongly about it. We don’t think it’s a controversy. We just think that’s the way we do it. Jerry feels strongly about it.”
The NFL, however, doesn’t care how strongly the Cowboys feel about the anthem. Jerry Jones said the league told him to clam up about the issue.
The Fort Worth News-Telegram reported that Jones told several local TV stations he couldn’t answer questions about the anthem or his team’s policy.
That prompted one station, KDFW-TV, to cancel its interview with him Sunday night.
It’s curious that the league has ordered Jones to shut up about the anthem issue while protesting players continue to speak freely.
Philadelphia Eagles cornerback Malcolm Jenkins, one of the most outspoken protesters, called Jones a “bully” for his anthem policy, and he apparently hasn’t been silenced by the NFL.
Jones isn’t the only NFL owner to be muzzled on the anthem question. According to ESPN, Cincinnati Bengals owner Mike Brown said last week that all the owners have been told to keep quiet about the issue.
“The league and the union are talking on this and we’re instructed to stand down while that’s ongoing,” Brown said. “I’m not going to sit here and stir the pot.”
The NFL issued a new policy in May under which players on the field would be required to stand for the anthem, but those who chose not to could stay in the locker room. On July 20, however, the league said it had agreed to a “standstill” of the policy with the NFL Players Association.
“Our shared focus will remain on finding a solution to the anthem issue through mutual, good faith commitments, outside of litigation,” the league and the union said in a statement.
What that “solution” will be is anybody’s guess, but the league’s actions suggest there’s a good chance it will allow the protests to continue during the upcoming season — and a lot of fans will continue to turn away.
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