DeSean Jackson released a two-minute long video on his Instagram account apologizing for his earlier posts, which apparently quoted Adolf Hiter.
A post shared by Desean Jackson (@0ne0fone) on Jul 7, 2020 at 8:50am PDT
"I post a lot of things that are sent to me," Jackson wrote in the caption. "I do not have hatred towards anyone. I really didn't realize what this passage was saying. Hitler has caused terrible pain to Jewish people like the pain African-Americans have suffered. We should be together fighting anti-Semitism and racism. This was a mistake to post this and I truly apologize for posting it and sorry for any hurt I have caused."
The Eagles released a statement around the same time Jackson released his video, saying they are continuing to evaluate Jackson's actions and will take appropriate measures.
Jackson is facing heavy criticism for a string of posts that appeared on his social media account over the July 4th weekend, one of which had an image of a page out of a book that included anti-Semitic quotes that were (incorrectly it seems) attributed to Adolf Hitler.
The post, which was posted in Jackson's Instagram story on Sunday, is below:
NFL star DeSean Jackson posted this to his huge following and literally no one is talking about it. Also, and this is the least consequential part of it, Hitler obviously never said that!! pic.twitter.com/CFiGjo8WQz
— Elazar Abrahams (@Elazarta) July 7, 2020It is unclear if Jackson is aware the quote was incorrectly attributed to Hitler, or if he posted the image under the impression that the quote was actually from Hitler. Regardless, the post contains some extremely anti-Semitic language and messaging.
Jackson later followed up that post with another one explaining he doesn't have "hate in his heart towards anyone", issuing what appeared to be an apology of sorts for anyone who was offended by the post, writing:
"Anyone who feels I have hate towards the Jewish community took my post the wrong way I have no hatred in my heart towards no-one!! Equality Equality"
Following that, however, Jackson posted the above page yet again, only this time scribbling out a portion of the page and highlighting the below passage:
"The will extort America, their plan for world domination won't work if the Negroes know who they were"
DeSean Jackson's Instagram story. pic.twitter.com/42fEvZc0Ie
— JPA (@jpafootball) July 7, 2020In addition to the two above posts, Jackson also posted two separate images promoting Minister Louis Farrakhan that have been deleted. Farrakhan is a controversial religious figure who is the leader of the Nation of Islam, a group that is viewed by many as anti-Semitic. Farrakhan once described Hitler as a "very great man."
In one of the posts promoting Farrakhan, Jackson described him as a "powerful" man and encouraged others to watch Farrakhan's speech that was given on July 4th, writing the following:
"This man powerful. I hope everyone got a chance to watch this!! Don't be blinded. Know what's going on!!"
It is unclear how much Jackson's knows about Farrakhan's history or if he is aware of Farrakhan's positive comments in the past about Hitler.
Former Eagles team president Joe Banner was extremely critical of Jackson's comments:
If a white player said anything about AA's as outrageous as what Desean Jackson said about Jews tonight there would at least be a serious conversation about cutting him and a need for a team meeting to discuss. Which would be totally appropriate. Absolutely indefensible.
— Joe Banner (@JoeBanner13) July 7, 2020As of Tuesday morning the posts were still on Jackson's page, which has over 1.4 million followers.
The Eagles have yet to issue any comment on Jackson's posts as of the publishing of this article.
