Rapper/actor Common said the Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a ‘slave owner mentality’
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones has a ‘slave owner mentality,’ according to entertainer Common, who took offense to Jones’s declaration that he would bench any player who refused to stand for the national anthem.
‘It’s an owner mentality,’ Common told TMZ, adding, ‘like a slave owner mentality, to be honest. Like, “You gonna do what I say on this.”‘
During Sunday’s loss to the visiting Green Bay Packers, Jones was asked about Vice President Mike Pence’s exit from Sunday’s Colts-49ers game in Indianapolis, when the former Indiana Governor abruptly left after several San Francisco players took a knee during the national anthem.
‘I know this, we cannot…in the NFL in any way give the implication that we tolerate disrespecting the flag,’ Jones told ESPN.
‘We know that there is a serious debate in this country about those issues, but there is no question in my mind that the National Football League and the Dallas Cowboys are going to stand up for the flag,’ he continued.
Jones said Monday that he would bench any Cowboys players for ‘disrespecting the flag’
Common, 45, took issue with the 74-year-old Jones’s logic.
‘Other people choosing to put their hands over their heart – what makes that gesture better than somebody else who might be praying during the national anthem?’ Common asked.
‘Or if somebody says, “I’m kneeling for what I believe in,” … then they should be able to do that because that’s what this country is about,’ the actor/rapper added.
Jones actually demonstrated with his players two weeks ago, locking arms with the Cowboys and kneeling before a Week 3 game in Arizona.
The issue of players’ protesting the national anthem has gained attention throughout the country over the last two years.
Then San Francisco 49ers-quarterback Colin Kaepernick began the protests by refusing to stand for the national anthem during the 2016 preseason. The demonstration was intended to bring attention to police brutality against minorities, and even though the free agent Kaepernick remains unsigned this season, the protests have gained popularity thanks, in part, to the objections of President Donald Trump.
Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones knelt with his players during the national anthem in Week 3, but on Monday night told ESPN that he would bench any player who did so going forward
President Donald Trump (right, on Saturday) tweeted his praise for Jerry Jones (left, in September) Monday night after the Dallas Cowboys owner said that any of his players who ‘disrespect’ the flag won’t be allowed to play
‘A big salute to Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who will BENCH players who disrespect our Flag.”Stand for Anthem or sit for game!”‘ Trump tweeted (pictured)
Over the last few weeks the President has spoken and tweeted about the issue, accusing protesting players of disrespecting the flag and military veterans, even going so far as to call anyone who takes a knee a ‘son of a b****.’
Trump was initially critical of Jones and the Cowboys, but the two have since talked, and Jones credited the President with alerting him to the NFL’s existing policy on the subject.
In an interview with ESPN’s Chris Mortensen, Jones said ‘You know who reminded me about the game ops policy? Donald Trump.’
Trump has since praised Jones in a tweet: ‘A big salute to Jerry Jones, owner of the Dallas Cowboys, who will BENCH players who disrespect our Flag.”
Common isn’t the only one that’s upset with Jones.
An NAACP executive wrote that Jones’s comments about players who ‘disrespect the flag’ are misguided.
NFL players began protesting police violence against minorities during the 2016 preseason when now-former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick refused to stand for the anthem
Fans hold towels depicting NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell wearing a clown nose during the game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots on September 7
‘Jerry Jones’s comments are more than tone-deaf, more than misinformed and misguided – they are a public commitment by an NFL owner to violate his players’ Constitutional right to free speech – one of the principles on which our nation was founded,’ read a statement from the NAACP’s Tony Covington, a former NFL safety.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke Sunday at the unveiling of the Peyton Manning statue in Indianapolis
Covington added: ‘They are proof that athletes like Colin Kaepernick who have quietly and peacefully used their platform to protest violence against communities of color do so at their own peril.’
‘This is not an issue about our flag, this is an issue about police brutality, racism, and the ability of members of the NFL whose communities are disproportionately impacted by police misconduct to peacefully say “enough,”‘ NAACP interim President and CEO Derrick Johnson said in the statement. ‘This is not simply a black issue due to the number of white people also killed by police, but we know historically that when justice occurs for African Americans, all other members of our society benefit as well.’
Former NFL player and current NAACP executive Tony Covington called Jones’s comments ‘misguided’ and ‘misinformed’
On Tuesday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell sent a memo to all 32 NFL teams, sharing his belief ‘that everyone should stand for the National Anthem,’ and adding that the league needs to ‘move past’ the controversy surrounding player protests.
According to the memo, which was obtained by ESPN’s Adam Schefter and posted on Facebook, Goodell feels the ongoing protests during the national anthem threaten to ‘erode’ the ‘unifying power’ of football.
NFL spokesman Joe Lockhart said league owners are prepared to meet next week to discuss unilateral changes to the policy concerning conduct during the national anthem.
As it currently reads, the policy says players ‘should stand at attention, face the flag, hold helmets in their hand, and refrain from talking’ during the anthem.
However, it stops short of saying players ‘must’ stand.