NFL owner sticks it to PC police, goes back on public apology
Houston Texans owner Bob McNair sparked controversy last season with a remark that seemed to compare NFL players to prison inmates.
During an October owners meeting, McNair stated that “we can’t have the inmates running the prison.” Many players were furious, particularly as the comment was made in the midst of the heated debate over whether it’s disrespectful for players to kneel during the pregame playing of the national anthem.
Following intense backlash, McNair apologized for his remark.
But now, months later, he’s going back on that public apology, saying he regrets even making it in the first place because he feels as though he didn’t do anything wrong.
“The main thing I regret is apologizing,” McNair told The Wall Street Journal. “I really didn’t have anything to apologize for.”
The Texans owner has insisted that his “inmates” remark was not directed at players who kneel during the anthem. Instead, he claims he was talking about NFL executives, who he feels often exert more power when it comes to big decisions than the owners themselves.
McNair explained that the controversial “inmates” phrase is actually common in the business world.
“In business, it’s a common expression. But the general public doesn’t understand it, perhaps,” he said.
McNair also thinks it’s ridiculous that his comments were leaked to the first place, especially considering how he made them in what was supposed to be a private meeting.
“We were talking about a number of things, but we were also washing some of our dirty linen, which you do internally. You don’t do that publicly,” he stated. “That’s what I was addressing: The relationship of owners and the league office.”
As noted by the New York Daily News, since making the “inmates” remark, McNair has become the face of NFL owners who oppose the national anthem protest.
Former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who sparked the protest during the 2016 preseason, even named McNair in his collusion lawsuit against the NFL. McNair was recently deposed by Kaepernick’s attorneys.
But McNair thinks he’s getting a bad rap in the media, indicating to The Wall Street Journal that people pay more attention to his stance on kneeling for the national anthem than they do his charity work.
“I do what I think is right,” he said. “Sometimes, people disagree with you.”
At the same time, he still stands by his belief that players should not get involved in politics, and that owners have the power to enforce this.
“As employers, we set conditions for all of our employees,” he said.
“We don’t allow political meetings or statements or that sort of thing during working hours. You wouldn’t let somebody working at McDonald’s, when somebody pulls through, give them a hamburger and say, ‘I don’t know why you’re eating that beef, why aren’t you a vegetarian?’ You don’t allow that. Well, that’s freedom of expression,” McNair added.
Along those same lines, McNair denied a claim from former Texans offensive tackle Duane Brown that back in 2008, the owner told his team he was upset about the election of Barack Obama.
“I don’t go into meetings and express views like that,” McNair said. “I never said that. (Brown) has no problem saying things that are not true.”
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