Dallas Cowboys safety Malik Hooker made waves over the weekend when a clip circulated of him critiquing his teammate Micah Parsons for having a weekly podcast throughout the season.
"My advice for Micah would be just make sure we're alright and being where you're feet are," Hooker said on Keyshawn Johnson’s “All Facts No Brakes” podcast. "Because if we're at work and, you know, the run game's terrible but you're doing a podcast every week and you know the run game is terrible then what are you really caring about? Are you caring about the crowd that was watching the podcast or are you caring about the success of our team and the Super Bowl that we're trying to reach?"
Parsons saw the clip and responded in a since-deleted post on X, formally Twitter.
“Just wish you said this to me but instead on some podcast! And you got my number family! @MalikHooker24 and you my locker mate!” Parsons said in the now-deleted post. “So you coulda said this any day! And you do realize I shoot the podcast on our off day! I why ain’t we talking about everyone preparations and focus.”
In fairness to Hooker, there was more to the clip than what went viral, and that could be why Parsons decided to delete his post.
"A lot of people got to remember. Micah is young. He's still trying to find his way. He's still trying to grow into who he's trying to be," Hooker said. I give him grace, honestly. I always hear people say people say stuff about something silly Micah said on the podcast. But people got to remember that Micah's still a big kid. You can't fault a big kid for trying to expand, as well as experience stuff they haven't been through. Micah's only been in the league for four years. He hasn't ever been through real adversity in the league yet. I feel like over time, over these next couple of years after experiencing adversity, you'll see him start to change in how he approaches the podcast and stuff like that. Like I said, it doesn't bother me."
Hooker also went to social media and posted a response in reaction to his viral comments.
"And Ima speak on this once. @micahparsons11 is a little bro. No his podcast isn't hurting nothing. Don't fall for bait. He knows what I meant and he knows me. See yall in Oxnard."