Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who employed Riley Cooper, dislikes Colin Kaepernick
Philadelphia Eagles owner Jeffrey Lurie, who gave Riley Cooper a five-year extension not long after Cooper was caught on video using a racial slur at a concert, is not a fan of Colin Kaepernick.
Lurie, who welcomed Cooper back after a whole four days of sensitivity training, told Philly.com that he doesn’t agree with Kaepernick’s actions after he kneeled during the national anthem.
“I don’t think anybody who is protesting the national anthem … is very respectful,” Lurie said, according to Philly.com. “If that’s all their platform is, is to protest the national anthem, then what’s the proactive nature of it?”
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Lurie, who never had Cooper sit out as much as a preseason game for using the racial slur at a country music concert, said he’s all for reversing social injustice, just not by doing things like peacefully taking a knee during the anthem.
“Anybody who wants to do proactive things, to try to reverse social injustice, I’m all in favor of. It has to be respectful,” Lurie said. “It certainly has to respect the military and the people that serve, the women and men that serve our country, emergency responders, whoever that is.”
Lurie, who hired Mike Vick after Vick served time in federal prison for his role in a dog-fighting ring, compared Kaepernick’s peaceful protest to Vick, who pleaded guilty a felony.
“With Michael Vick, there was a complete vetting of: ‘How is he as a teammate? What is his character? What is his potential? What is his football intelligence? Can he be a backup?'” Lurie told Philly.com.
Kaepernick won a prestigious character award that was voted on by his San Francisco 49ers teammates. Kaepernick has given $900,000 of his own money to charity over the past year and by all accounts has never been arrested for anything.
Lurie’s Eagles had the most players arrested among NFC East teams from May of 2012 to May of 2017 according to Cowboys Wire.
Lurie, who hasn’t cut Pro Bowl safety Malcolm Jenkins for his peaceful protest of raising a fist during the anthem, likely because he’s a Pro Bowl safety and Lurie needs him to win football games, has apparently figured out the proper way to protest police brutality and social injustice, two topics he presumably has some firsthand experience with based on his comments.
“I applaud anybody that can find respectful ways of trying to use their platform in some way to discuss social injustice,” Lurie told Philly.com.
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Frank Schwab is the editor of Shutdown Corner on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at shutdown.corner@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
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