Union blasts Jones over threats
Protesters face benchings, ESPN suspends host Hill for Cowboys boycott tweet
DALLAS— The declaration by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones that he would bench anyone who shows disrespect to the American flag drew a sharp response from the NFL players’ union Monday and raised the possibility of another call to action by athletes who have kneeled during the national anthem.
Executive director DeMaurice Smith of the NFL Players Association said Jones’ most recent contradicted assurances last week from commissioner Roger Goodell and New York Giants president John Mara that players could express themselves without retribution.
“I look forward to the day when everyone in management can unite and truly embrace and articulate what the flag stands for, liberty and justice for all, instead of some of them just talking about standing,” Smith said. “We look forward to continuing our talks with them on this very issue.” Also Monday, ESPN suspended host Jemele Hill, whose tweets last month calling President Donald Trump a white supremacist prompted the White House to call for her firing. After Jones said he would bench any players who “disrespect the flag,” Hill suggested on Twitter that fans who disagreed with Jones’s stance should boycott Cowboys advertisers.
“Change happens when advertisers are impacted,” she tweeted. “If you feel strongly about JJ’s statement, boycott his advertisers.”
ESPN said in a statement that Hill was suspended for “a second viola- tion of our social media guidelines.” A spokesperson for the company declined to say which specific guideline she violated.
Jones’ comments on Sunday came after he was asked about Vice-President Mike Pence’s decision to leave an Indianapolis home game in protest of about a dozen San Francisco players who kneeled during the anthem. President Donald Trump tweeted after Pence’s walkout that he had told Pence to leave if any players kneeled during the anthem.
Following a 35-31 home loss to Green Bay, the 74-year-old Jones said the NFL cannot leave the impression that it tolerates players dis- respecting the flag and said any Cowboys doing so will not play.
“If there’s anything that is disrespectful to the flag, then we will not play,” Jones said. “OK? Understand? If we are disrespecting the flag, then we won’t play. Period.”
The Cowboys and Jones kneeled arm-in-arm before the anthem when they played at Arizona on Sept. 25, a few days after Trump said at a rally in Alabama that NFL owners should fire any players who disrespect the flag. All of them stood during the anthem, with locked arms.
Most Dallas players have stood on the sideline, many with hands over their hearts, during the anthem since former 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick started kneeling last season in protest of police treatment of African-Americans.
Several NFL teams have struggled with how to handle inequality protests. Trump’s comments re-ignited a political controversy that Kaepernick started a year ago.
The NFL affirmed the players’ rights to protest. Lead NFL spokesperson Joe Lockhart has said, “Everyone should know, including the president, this is what real locker room talk is.” It was an apparent reference to the Access Hollywood tapes in which Trump bragged about sexually assaulting women.