An NFL coach for the Washington Commanders was hit with heavy penalties after posting a tweet last week that related the BLM riots to the January 6 riot on Capitol Hill.
Washington Commanders Defensive Coordinator Jack Del Rio posted a tweet last week asking why Congress was treating the January 6th riot more seriously than multiple BLM riots despite more violence and vandalism taking place during the latter.
Del Rio tweeted in response to an article about the January 6th Committee hearings, saying, “Would love to understand ‘the whole story’ about why the summer of riots, looting, burning, and destruction of property is never discussed but this is??? #CommonSense”.
2 days after the Tweet, Del Rio held a press conference where he discussed it, doubling down on his question and about Congress’s “two standards” between the similar situations. He also referred to the January 6th storming of the Capitol as a “dust up” compared to the BLM riots.
By Friday, however, head coach Ron Rivera made his own announcement about the incident, saying that he decided to fine Del Rio $100,000, sent to the Capitol Police Memorial Fund, for his comments.
“After reflecting on the situation and circumstances, I have decided to fine Coach Del Rio $100,000, which the team will donate to the United States Capitol Police Memorial Fund,” Rivera said.
The Commanders head coach also said he believes the Defensive Coordinator “will have a greater understanding for the impact of his language and the values that our team stands for.”
Then on Sunday, Del Rio officially deactivated his Twitter account, presumably to avoid further incidents.
It seemed at first that the NFL coach was going to survive cancel culture and be free to speak his mind. Unfortunately for him, it all blew up on him again after the press conference. Do you think he would have been fined if he hadn’t doubled down? Are you surprised he was allowed to keep his job?
