On the latest Green Light Podcast, former Eagles defensive end Chris Long offered a reasonable and thoughtout viewpoint about Desean Jackson and his recent anti-Semetic comments on Instagram.
"I like Desean. Every time I've been around him, he seems like a good guy. That was dissappointing... The guy made a mistake. It was a bad mistake. As I said with Drew Brees, I don't do the comparison thing with this stuff because it is all so nuanced and these are heavy topics. Just like Drew Brees, I don't get to decide when his apology or learning process on this thing is complete... All I know is he talked bad about Jewish people and somehow managed to use a fake Hitler quote doing it, and that is a f****** disaster."
Long completely denounces Jackson comments with his overarching point: "I think it's f***** up unequivocally."
Long is not the only prominent figure to speak out against Jackson's anti-semetic post, but he is one of the few athletes in the NFL community to do so. Late on Wednesday, several NFL linemen spoke out on Twitter to denounce anti-Semitism, including Steelers' offensive lineman Zach Banner, the Cheifs' Mitchell Schwartz and the Seahawks' defensive lineman Khalil McKenzie Jr.
This video is to transition from the incident, and move forward as a community. Not to harp on @DeSeanJackson10 mistake, but to progress by educating ourselves. We can't move forward while allowing ourselves to leave another minority race in the dark.#Equality pic.twitter.com/MnLnCCYzQL
— Zach Banner (@ZBNFL) July 8, 2020Former NBA player Stephen Jackson came under fire for defending some of Jackson's comments on Twitter and Instagram, hosting a live stream video on Wednesday evening and then attempted to clarify his comments on CNN later on.
Former NBA player Stephen Jackson says it was never his intent to defend a series of anti-Semitic posts from Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver DeSean Jackson."I apologize for using the wrong words." https://t.co/FJvfyO3HIq pic.twitter.com/GDtif4tByF
— CNN (@CNN) July 9, 2020Jackson often reverted back to the treatment of Desean and former Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper, who many have drawn similar parrellels too in regards to their situations. Long also offered his thoughts on the comparison and how the Eagles should have dealt with Cooper.
"I'm not going to do the thing where we say 'Riley Cooper didn't get cut, why should Desean?' I'm not doing the comparison thing, I'm not asking for a certain type of punishment or that he should get cut. Riley didn't get cut for saying what he said and I'm not equating the two, but that's the thing that I've been seeing everyone whatabout-ing today... As I thought about it more, all I know is that the best way Riley Cooper could come out of it better, he couldn't have a better crash course in learning from his mistakes than re-entering a locker room full of Black guys."
"I think it's going to be tougher for Desean to get that opportunity in football... hopefully he learns from people outside the building."
