Bob McNair either misspoke or showed his true colors during the recent NFL owners meetings.
The Houston Texans owner used a cringe-worthy analogy earlier this month when discussing NFL players who protest against police brutality and racial injustice and inequality during the playing of the national anthem, Seth Wickersham and Don Van Natta Jr. reported in an ESPN the Magazine feature.
“We can’t have the inmates running the prison,” McNair reportedly said during the NFL owners meetings in New York City.
McNair’s racially coded comment reportedly stunned some in the room and angered NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent.
“He was offended by McNair’s characterization of the players as ‘inmates,'” Wickersham and Van Natta write. “Vincent said that in all his years of playing in the NFL — during which, he said, he had been called every name in the book, including the N-word — he never felt like an ‘inmate.'”
McNair later apologized to Vincent and repeated his regret Friday in a statement.
Can anyone else hear a dog whistle right about now?
Click here for the latest NFL rumors >>
Thumbnail photo via Kirby Lee/USA TODAY Sports Images
