Washington Commanders defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio has sent his last tweet. One day after the team fined him $100,000 for controversial comments made about the deadly U.S. Capitol insurrection, the 59-year-old coach chose to deactivate his own Twitter account, which he recently used to describe the Jan. 6 events in Washington, D.C. as a "dust-up."
Commanders head coach Ron Rivera, who issued the fine last week, said in a statement that Del Rio's comments don't reflect the franchise's views. Del Rio also compared the insurrection to the nationwide Black Lives Matter protests following the murder of George Floyd, and NAACP president Derrick Johnson called for Del Rio to "resign or be terminated" last week. Del Rio has yet to be fired by Washington, and it appears that his job for the 2022 season is safe.
"Part of what he said was disrespectful. A big part of what he said was stupid. It was ridiculous," JR said during the JR SportBrief show on Monday. "Yes, he has the right to say whatever he wants to say, just like everybody else. I don't think anyone would dispute that. But, what he said was wild. There's a reason why he's been getting his ass kicked in the court of public opinion -- a reason he's been fined. A reason why Ron Rivera fined him and put out a statement...
"There's a reason. Because, what he said, he's well within his right to say. But that doesn't make it any less stupid. That's me putting this in very elementary terms... They're really a joke. It's sad... Washington is backwards. It's enough that there's stories about their owner, in Daniel Snyder, allegedly trying to hide and shuffle around revenue and money, so that he doesn't have to participate in sharing that revenue with the rest of the teams..."
JR's complete thoughts on Del Rio's controversial remarks can be accessed in the audio player above.
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